


The Darkness Always Deceives

by uzai_sagi



Category: Dark Deception (Video Game), 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs
Genre: Angst and Feels, Canon Related, Dark Deception AU, Dazai Osamu is a Mess (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai-Typical Suicide Mentions (Bungou Stray Dogs), Eventual Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs), I mean, If you know Dark Deception, M/M, Nakahara Chuuya Swears (Bungou Stray Dogs), Nakahara Chuuya Uses Corruption (Bungou Stray Dogs), Night Terrors, No Beta, POV Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs), Post-Corruption Ability Use (Bungou Stray Dogs), Post-Dead Apple (Bungou Stray Dogs), Post-Fyodor | Cannibalism Arc (Bungou Stray Dogs), Purgatory, Temporary Character Death, We Die Like Men, Yandere Dazai Osamu (Bungou Stray Dogs), You know what happens, because look what he's going through, but it's not open, he's kind of a Yandere, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2020-06-26 01:46:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 49,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19758073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uzai_sagi/pseuds/uzai_sagi
Summary: It finally happened.Corruption finally killed him.What's worse?The one person he trusted to save him, to bring him back, wasn't there.Now Chuuya is trapped in a weird ballroom looked after by a strange old woman, who claims that he is now in purgatory. He's in despair until she's come with a solution.Now he's going to have to find the pieces to a powerful ring that'll grant wishes by going through nightmares, all the while dealing with facing his own fears. He just wished this asshole demon would stop trying to kill him during his task.





	1. No Way Back pt 1 - Purgatory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shardstar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shardstar/gifts).



> Hello! Hola! Bonjor! Konnichiwa! Ni hao! Ciao!
> 
> Okay, that's enough...
> 
> Anyway, if any of you were paying attention to the tags, yes, it is BSD crossing over with Dark Deception!
> 
> For those of you who are unfamiliar with Dark Deception, it is a horror video game available up on Steam. The basic plot of the game is that the player is stuck in what looks to be purgatory and have to go through a series of nightmares in order to get a ring that has a demons power in it.
> 
> To put it short, it is basically horror Pacman.
> 
> I have not played this game myself, but I have watched YouTubers play this. Got some pretty good jumpscares honestly.
> 
> Anyway, I am dedicating this to our one and only Shardstar! If she is reading this, this is my way of showing her how much I love her fics. And I know how hard life can be sometimes, so I'm giving her a little something that'll hopefully help her feel inspired. I know not everyone likes horror, but sometimes they've got good plot.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy this first chapter! Note that this is not betad. I am a writer who will for like a man. Or woman. Whatever I'm gonna go down with dignity!

**_"O granters of dark disgrace… you need not wake me again…"_ **

He felt heavy, like a crushing weight on his chest. It didn't feel like _Corruption_ , because _Corruption_ always slithered its way into his veins and his whole body would feel heavy while the markings always made themselves known on his skin. He did feel the sensation of losing his breath when he was in the state of _Corruption_ for too long as well. But this weight? This feeling losing his breath? This was different. Whereas _Corruption_ weighed down on his whole body, this weight on his chest stayed _solely_ on his chest, right onto his heart; and the breathlessness was when _Corruption_ had… had…

_"Did I finally die?"_

Soon the weight removed itself from his chest and he gasped out took several deep breaths as he was finally able to breathe. He gave a groan before fluttering his blue eyes open. His vision was blurry, so he couldn't properly make out his surroundings. His whole body protested when he moved his arms to put pressure against what he could assume was a cold marble floor by the smooth feeling against his arms, and slowly lifted himself up. Once he was in a full sitting position, he reached up and rubbed his eyes to rid himself of the blurriness in his vision before it finally, and slowly came back into focus.

What he came to find himself in was a strange ballroom with marble pillars and gray swirls in between them on the walls. Looking above him, he could see small chandeliers forming a circle on the ceiling while the big one stayed in the middle. God, that was a pretty high ceiling. He shifted his gaze to see some stairs leading up to a red door and in the middle of the ballroom was a strange statue of a headless being with wings, holding up some type of orb.

Chuuya shifted his position so that he could stand up and dusted himself off and he tried to recall what happened. He was facing an unknown enemy, used _Corruption_ when their backs were against the corner and then… Well, when he handed control over to Arahabaki, he never really recalls the battle. He looked around one more time before turning around and…

"The hell…?"

What he saw behind him was nothing more than a pure black void. It was almost as if part of the ballroom was ripped away and all you see is nothing but a black void. He chanced a close look and stepped forward to the edge and looked to see, as he expected, nothing but a void. Chuuya was willing to bet that if he were to fall right now, he'd be falling for eternity.

He stepped back away from it, and his confusion only grew worse. "How the hell did I end up in this place?" He mumbled.

When Chuuya turned back around, he jumped at the sight of a woman. She was an old woman, probably in her early fifties, with white hair that seemed to be all over the place, but still managed to look good. Her long black dress showed a lot of skin, of the cleavage was anything to go by, and the way it was designed reminded him of one of those sorceress costumes he'd occasionally see. For makeup, she wore black lipstick, black eyeliner and black eyeshadow, and her nails were painted red. For jewelry, she had to amethyst earrings and a necklace with amethyst gems. There was a green the middle of her dress, which he could only assume was letting it together. Chuuya had to admit, this woman looked pretty good for her age.

It seemed she finally noticed him, if the smile was anything to go by.

"Oh! Another one," she said in a soft British accent. "How nice to have some company again."

"Another one…?" Chuuya mumbled to himself.

"Come over here," she ordered with the gesture of her fingers."Let's have a look at you."

Chuuya didn't know what the hell was going on, but if he was going to get answers as to where he was and why he's here, he might as well play along. With a deep breath, he walked over to the woman, making sure to stand straight. She seemed to hold some sort of authority around here, from the way she was looking him over with a scrutinizing look. She reminded him of Ane-san in a sense. Once she was done with her examination, she gave a disappointed sigh.

"You disappoint me, love," she said. "You really do." Chuuya got too confused by this to be offended. "So many fears. So many desires. I thought you'd be bigger."

His vein popped at the last sentence in anger. "SO I'M SMALL!! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM HUH!?!" he yelled angrily. He paused before calming himself down, though he was still scowling. "Where the hell am I?"

The woman raised an eyebrow, as if he had asked a ridiculous question. "Isn't it obvious, love?" She said. "You're in Purgatory."

That answer was not what he was expecting. "Purgatory…?"

"Yes, purgatory. The realm where all sinners, whose time has finally come, are sent to repent for their sins and face judgment."

Chuuya took a step back as he looked at the ground in shock. Sinners whose time had finally come..."But… I'm still walking… Did I really die…? And sins…" He gave the woman a glare. "How would you know if I'm a sinner or not!?"

The woman only seemed amused. "Don't look so confused," she replied. "I know everything you've got hidden in that brain of yours. I know all the terrible things you've done… So many good intentions laid to waste… I can see the regret, eating away at your soul." She watched as realization started to appear in the young man's blue eyes before crossing arms and continuing. "Hah! But now your time has come and here you are, to grovel and beg…"

Chuuya's mind was reeling at this brand of information. He either didn't want to believe this because he knew she was lying and this was all some twisted dream. He snarled. "This is all bullshit!" He shouted. "This has to be some weird trick of an ability! Whoever you are, or whatever you're doing, you better take me the fuck back right now!"

The woman narrowed her eyes. "You can't go back," she said seriously. "Only death awaits you there now."

Whatever anger he had faded after hearing this, and he fell to his knees and stared at the ground. So he really did die. _Corruption_ killed him. It _finally_ killed him. And Dazai didn't… Didn't…

His blue eyes filled with tears of both anguish and anger. Anguish because Dazai wasn't there to pull him out of _Corruption_ before it was too late. Anger because Dazai most likely allowed him to die on purpose. He didn't know if the latter was true, but it didn't mean it hurt any less.

 _'Damn you, Dazai!'_ he thought in despair. _'I knew I shouldn't have trusted you!'_ He clenched his eyes shut and his tears fell freely. _'I can't die yet! There's still so much to need to do! I don't even...! I don't even know who I really am yet...'_

Chuuya was pulled away from his thoughts as the woman placed a finger under his chin and made him look up at her. He was confused when he saw her smile and pull away.

"Fear not, love," she said, "you've got potential. I see it in you. And I can help change your fate."

Chuuya had to register what was said before his eyes held a glimmer of hope. "You really can?" He asked.

The woman nodded. "But if you want a new life, you're going to have to suffer quite a bit to get it."

The ginger gave it a hard thought. Did he want to suffer just to get back to the world of the living? Or did he want to stay and await judgement on his soul? Deep down, he already knew the answer, but he wanted to think over the pros and cons of suffering just to go home. In the end, he knew he didn't have a choice. He looked at her with determination.

"What do I have to do?"

The woman's smile widened before going to one of the gray swirls. "The pieces to a powerful ring are hidden in nightmares behind each of these portals," she explained. "Find them, and bring them to me. And you'll get your wish." She gave him a hard look. "Fail, and you'll find that there are things _far_ worse than _death_ awaiting you here."

Chuuya got the gist of it, but something else caught his eye. A black ball with red aura, locked up in a red cage in a corner. "Oi, what's that over there?" He asked.

The woman looked to what he was looking at and have a casual smile. "That's your ability, love."

Chuuya's eyes widened and he tried calling out to his ability. When nothing happened, he ran over to the statue and touched it. He concentrated very hard, trying to reach within himself to get to his ability. Still nothing. He then took a big risk.

**"O granters of dark disgrace… You need not wake me again…"**

… Nothing.

He looked at the woman with pure rage. "Oi!! What's the big idea!?"

"You see, love, when an ability user happens to be sent to purgatory, they get their abilities taken away. You can't have them try to escape judgment now, can you?"

"So basically I'm powerless here…"

"Basically."

The ginger glared at her for a moment before sighing and removing his coat. "So all I have to do is go through some nightmares and find pieces to some ring?" He repeated what was told to him. "Shouldn't be too hard." He looked at her again. "By the way, who are you? What's your role here?"

"You may call me, Bierce," the woman said. "I am what you would call the guardian of this place."

"Good to know…"

"Now." She gave an amused smile as he jumped from the portal exploding into a bright red color. "Clock's ticking…"

Chuuya was confused as to why there was a creepy looking monkey branded on the portal, but he decided to ignore it and go through. He found himself in a long dark hallway and groaned. "I feel like I'm gonna regret this," he grumbled before walking to the dark entrance, ready to go find the ring piece.

It's his only chance of getting home after all.

* * *

In the world of the living, the body of Chuuya Nakahara laid upon a red symbol, his hat on his chest and hands folded together on his stomach. If anyone looked past the fact that he wasn't breathing, he looked like he was having a rather peaceful sleep.

Beside his body sat a man in a brown trailered suit and brown dress shoes. A pale hand was delicately turning the page of an old book, and green eyes glanced at the still body beside him. The man gave a sly smile.

"I have a feeling you'll be far luckier than the others have ever been," he said to the body as if he could hear him. "I could sense the tenacity right before you died." He then turned back to his book. "All you have to do is face your darkest fears."


	2. No Way Back pt 2 - Monkey Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Chuuya enters the first nightmare, he soon discovers that retrieving the ring piece will not be easy. Not only will he have to face the common fears of man, but he will see that the nightmares carry his memories.
> 
> Meanwhile, his body is being watched over by a mysterious figure, whose motive of watching over him is unknown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Welcome to chapter two!
> 
> Here we explore the first nightmare, which I will not describe in the notes. But it is described in the chapter, obviously. I'm not exactly good with describing places, so please bear with me here.
> 
> If you have any questions concerning the game, Dark Deception, feel free to ask in the comments below.
> 
> I don't own BSD or Dark Deception
> 
> Enjoy!

Chuuya blinked when he found himself in what looked to be a hotel lobby. The walls were made of a dark brown wood and the floor was pearly white with the same monkey symbol from the portal. As expected of a hotel, there was a front desk with a bell to ring for service, and behind it was stacks of mail in square boxes in order to divide them up by recipients. The place was barely lit up by the dim lamps. He looked behind himself and saw that the portal returned to it's dull gray color. Guess he won't be getting out until he's gotten the first ring piece. He sighed before walking forward and giving the place a look around.

"What a charming little hotel," he heard Bierce say, and he briefly looked around to see where she was. But she wasn't anywhere in the room. "Bring back any memories?"

The hotel did bring back the few times that Chuuya has had to stay in a hotel when he went abroad for missions. He liked staying in the more luxurious hotels because not only were the beds comfortable, but they also had the best wine. But those memories weren't really important

"Oi! How are you able to see any of this when you're not even here with me?" He asked.

"I'm currently seeing what you are seeing through my power," she answered. "Just to be sure that you are making progress."

Chuuya hummed, figuring that it made sense. He was in purgatory after all. And since Bierce was the so called guardian of the place, there are probably things that he wouldn't be capable of doing. He walked over to the sign next to the desk and leaned down to read. "Breakfast and murder. Free everyday until 10 am," he read before giving a snort. "Wow. I have to pay to get killed now? Quite the business deal they got here."

After reading that, he stood straight back up to walk down the hallway, which was surprisingly only consisting of pale white walls and floor. On his way to the corner, he spotted a monkey bell boy cutout. "Huh… That's something you don't see everyday," he said, but jumped when the cutout suddenly fell. "Fucking shit!!" He heard the woman chuckle in his mind and scowled. "It ain't funny…"

Instead of being worried about the cutout, he decided to turn to see the hallway looking like a hotel again. Chuuya looked to his left and saw a picture of a monkey with sharp teeth and blood on its face. "Hmm…."

A brief "ding" was heard and he looked down the hall of elevators to see a silhouette at the very last elevator at the end. Out of faint curiosity, he slowly walked toward it to get a better look. As he got closer, he saw that the head was  _ way  _ too big for an ordinary human, and its shape looked like one of those monkey toys with cymbols.

"Is that a monkey?" Chuuya mumbled to himself.

Instead of getting an answer, the silhouette finally saw him and squealed in fright, causing Chuuya to jump at the unexpected reaction before the elevator closed.

".... Well, I guess that answers my question then… Definitely a monkey…"

He waited a moment as he heard the elevator move, all the while taking a defensive stance in case the monkey was still there and staring at the golden elevator doors. He tensed at the sharp "ding" and the elevator opened to reveal brown walls and a checkered floor. He let out a breath of relief and relaxed when he saw that the monkey wasn't inside.

"Here goes nothing."

That said, Chuuya stepped inside. He turned to press a button, but stopped when he saw strange symbols instead of numbers on the buttons.

"Going up?" Bierce asked as the doors closed and the elevator started moving.

"This is definitely purgatory if all I see are demonic symbols," Chuuya mumbled as he leaned back and waited as he listened to elevator music.

It took at least a couple of minutes before the elevators stopped with a "ding" and opened up. Chuuya was surprised to see the same statue from the ballroom inside the waiting area of the hotel floor and stepped out. But he noticed something different about the statue. The orb in its hands was now glowing a violet color.

"Huh…." He turned to see the elevator closing back up. He gave a look around the room, noting the message "Break the BOARDS" written on the wall, before Bierce began to speak.

"Now listen closely," she said. "See those floating bits of crystal?"

Chuuya turned to see a floating crystal behind wooden boards. He got closer to examine it. "Yeah? What about them?" He asked

"Those are soul shards."

"Soul shards…"

"Fragments of human spirit scattered throughout the halls of this little maze. Each crystal is a remnant of one who has met their end here." Chuuya frowned. So he wasn't the first to go through this, huh? "Gather them all, and the first ring piece will be yours."

"So gather crystals to get the first ring piece," Chuuya said. "That sounds pretty easy." He turned to the statue. "I'm guessing the piece is in this statue right here?"

"Yes, it is called a ring barrier," Bierce said. "It can only be broken when you've gathered all of the soul shards."

"Good to know," he said before turning and raising his leg to kick the boards down.

"One more thing." Chuuya paused and put his leg down to listen to what she had to say. "You're not alone. There are monsters in here, and they're looking for you."

He remembered the monkey from earlier and grimaced. "Of course…" There was a brief flash of light beside him and he looked down to see a tablet on the floor.

"Here, you'll need this," Bierce said as the ginger reached down to pick it up. "It can detect each shards location. It was left by the last… Guest to disappoint me here. A very clever girl. Just not a very fast runner."

Chuuya turned it on and the tablet immediately lit up to reveal a map of the maze and showing purple dots. He had to guess those dots were the soul shards. "289…" He grinned down at the tablet. "This will definitely come in handy."

"Enough instruction," Bierce said, and he could almost hear the grin on her voice. "Break those boards and let's get this party started!"

Chuuya gave a smug grin. "Now you're speaking my language!" He said before he broke the boards and ran to grab the first shard.

* * *

The man lifted his head up from the book he was reading and glanced at Chuuya's body, sensing the confidence flowing within it despite being lifeless, before grinning. "Ah yes, you'll definitely be the one to get the job done."

* * *

Chuuya took deep breaths as he ran through the halls of the hotel maze and gathered all the soul shards that were in front of him. So far, he was down to 265 soul shards, and the number got lower after another shard and then another. "This is easier than I thought," he said to himself.

It didn't take long until he heard loud footsteps in front before he looked up from the tablet and saw a monkey in a bell boy uniform coming forward. It has sharp bloody teeth and… Did this thing have knives for hands? His train of thought was cut off when the money reached him and started slashing at him, making him dodge every strike as it shrieked.

"Oi oi! I was thinking!" Chuuya growled as he caught the monkey's wrist before flipping backwards and kicking it in the face. He released the wrists to back flip away to keep some distance. "Since you were so rude, why don't I punish you by pinning you to the ground?"

He called to his ability but…

…

…

The monkey just stared at him with its beady eyes and Chuuya remembered.

_ 'Shit. I forgot I don't have my ability…' _

He gave a nervous grin and took a few steps back. "Nice monkey…." He said nervously. "Good monkey…" He flinched when the monkey let out a shriek before sprinting off as it gave chase. "Fuck!!!"

Chuuya, even without his ability, was fast enough to evade the monkey, thankfully, but he yelped when he had to dodge the blade hand off another monkey that came out of the corner. "Fucking hell!! Another one!?" He stepped back as he dodged several swipes of the knives, and he looked to see the first monkey coming from behind. He looked at the narrow spacing of the walls and got an idea. Grabbing hold of the wrists of the money in front of him in a tight grip, the ginger planted a foot on the green wall before he started running up on it to flip behind the monkey and kick it back to its pal, making them crash. He briefly took know of the little wind-up key it had on its back before taking off.

Chuuya took a quick look at the tablet and saw he had 232 shards left. "Okay, so far so good…"

He heard footsteps behind him as he turned a corner and ran faster. "God damnit!! How many of these things are there!!" He saw a large red shard and grabbed it. The tablet made a noise before he looked to see the moving red dots following the arrow. "Huh… So it looks like I can see where they are now." He started going in directions that would help him get a good distance away from the monkeys. When he found that he was safe, he opened one of the doors and slipped inside to hide while he caught his breath.

He had his eyes closed for a moment as he caught his breath, and when he opened them again, he stared in both shock and disbelief. Inside the room be was hiding in was one of the grand suites that he stayed in when he was on a mission in Europe. He was sixteen at the time, and Chuuya found himself staring at his younger self as he watched the stars at the balcony.

_ "Oh, Hatrack~!" _

The younger Chuuya scowled, but he chose to ignore the all too familiar annoying voice. The older Chuuya shifted his gaze to a sixteen year-old Dazai on the large bed, staring at his partner and pouting when he found that he was being ignored.

_ "Chibi!" _ The brunette called.

When Dazai didn't get a response out of the ginger, he decided a different course of action. Chuuya remembered it all too well. The fucking bastard crawled out of bed and crept up behind the shorter male to reach for his hat.

_ "You're gonna lose that hand if you even so much as think of touching my hat,"  _ Chuuya's younger self said without looking at the younger Dazai.

_ "How did you know I was going for it?"  _ Dazai said incredulously.  _ "You're not even looking at me!" _

_ "Your shitty smell gave you away, stupid mackerel." _

_ "Such a good sense of smell!"  _ Dazai smirked.  _ "Then again, I expected nothing less from a dog~" _

The younger Chuuya threw a kick at Dazai, but the taller male predictably dodged it.  _ "GO DIE, SHITTY DAZAI!!!" _

Chuuya blinked when the room suddenly vanished with the younger versions of him and Dazai, and replaced with one of the hotel rooms of the nightmare.

"Well, you were quite the charming young man back then," Bierce teased. "An old friend?"

"Hell no," the ginger said with a grimace. "He was a work partner of mine a long time ago, and  _ huge  _ pain in my ass! No way I would ever be friends with that kind of guy!" Not to mention he was also the one who left me to die was left unspoken.

"No need to be so defensive, love" he heard her say, and he could imagine the amused smirk she probably had. "Now, those soul shards aren't going to gather themselves."

Chuuya rolled his eyes and looked at the tablet. He still had 210 shards to go. God, how did he even manage to get that much? Then again, the soul shards were practically in front of him, depending on which directions he took in this maze. He still had a long way to go if he was going to get that ring piece.

"Well, I've stalled long enough," he mumbled before turning around and opening the door a bit to check his surroundings. Once he saw the coast was clear, he stepped out of the room and closed the door quietly before taking off. He was coming to take a turn on the corner when a monkey appeared out of nowhere and thrusted its know hand at him, just a hair's width away from cutting his hat.

Chuuya saw red and grabbed the offending arm before savagely ripping it off and stabbing the monkey in the face. The mechanical creature gave a shriek before falling to the ground, twitching like it was malfunctioning and sparks flying a bit.

Chuuya gave a menacing glare down at the body as he pushed his hat down on his head.

"Don't. Touch. The hat!"

* * *

The man straightened up in surprise and looked to the body with an amused grin. "My, my," he said. "Quite protective of that hat, aren't you?" He took the hat off of Chuuya's chest and held it delicately. "Well, I suppose if I had something that meant a lot to me, I'd punish whoever tried to touch it as well."

He ran a hand through ash blonde hair and then placed the hat onto his head. "I have to admit, you have good taste," he said. "Although, a black fedora never exactly suited me. But you…" He removed the hat from his head and returned it to its place on its rightful owner's chest. "It suits you perfectly."

* * *

Chuuya took a few deep breaths as he sat in one of the rooms, having snuck in while running away from a few monkeys.

"You've gathered half of the shards," Bierce said. "I'm impressed. I'd have thought you'd have been shredded by now..."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," the ginger mumbled and looked at the tablet. "Okay. 145 shards left." He looked at the cuts on his arms and grimaced. "Damn. Those monkeys know how to put up a fight. I wish I still had my ability."

"If you still had your ability, this would've been too easy for you. You're the type to like a challenge, aren't you?"

"No one asked you, woman!!"

Deciding that he's had enough rest, Chuuya got up and left the room. Once he stepped out, he was greeted with footsteps and looked to see monkeys coming after him. "Oh, fuck me!!" He yelled, turning and running.

He looked at the map and noticed a white dot that was a few feet ahead and ran towards it to see a yellow orb. When he touched it, he looked behind him and saw that the monkeys had stopped. "Huh… guess it stuns them or something," he mumbled, but he wasted no time to make a run for it. Most of the shards were still further away, and he needed to snatch them all up.

_ "Tell me, Chuuya Nakahara, have you ever wondered what drives someone to keep living?" _

The ginger managed to reach the shards and had to run into a circle in order to get most of them. He passed what he assumed was the kitchen and saw monkeys on the sides, not doing anything considering that they were nothing more then cutouts.

_ "Does it have something to do with the past?" _

He was cut off when a monkey got in front of him and tried to stab him with its knife hands.

_ "Are they concerned with the present?" _

Chuuya was glad there was enough space in the kitchen area because he hopped into one of the tables and kicked the monster in the face.

_ "Or perhaps it's the future that compels them to live." _

He looked to his left to see three more monkeys coming in and jumped onto their heads, playing hopscotch before he landed on the floor and running forward.

_ "You are compelled to live, not only by the encouragement of a man who once tried to take your life, but by the missing pieces of your puzzle…" _

_ That's why you think that the one person you could count on to save you had left you to die, isn't it? _

* * *

"5….4….3….2….1!"

Chuuya snatched up the last shard as he ran forward with triumphant grin. "Gotcha!"

"You've gathered all of the soul shards," Bierce said as Chuuya began to hear all of the monkeys shrieking like maniacs with a confused look. "The ring piece is now exposed, and the monsters will go into a frenzy. Get the ring piece before Mr. Monkey finds you."

Chuuya didn't need to be told twice as he ran forward to get to the statue. Make a left, then right, go forward, left, another left, right and…

He swiftly entered the waiting room that had the statue and placed the gathered soul shards with it, opening up the orb and revealing the ring piece, which he didn't hesitate to snatch up.

"Gotcha!"

Chuuya had on a smile of victory before he flinched at a new voice growling.

"Who dares!?" the voice, deep and masculine, demanded.

"Shoot he knows you're here now!" Bierce said in panic. "You need to escape. Get to the portal, hurry!"

The ginger turned at the sound of the familiar "ding" and the elevators opened up, allowing him to swiftly run inside. "Come on, which button do I press, damnit!!" He said as he gave a panicked look at the buttons. His attention soon shifted to the sound of one of the doors being busted open into pieces. It was a monkey, but it looked different. The whole body was purple and its eyes were red. When it spotted him, it ran for him, only to be stopped by the elevator door. "Shit!!" Chuuya yelled, clinging the wall when it launched at him.

He felt the elevator against his back move down to the first floor and waited in anticipation. He flinched when the light flicks off and heard the elevator music begin and felt the elevator jolt to a stop. The doors opened and he rushed out to the familiar path of the portal. He froze when he heard several rings of the elevators on the sides and saw monkeys coming out.

"Run! Run!"

Chuuya took off into a sprint, forcing the monkeys chase after him.

"There's no escape for you, mortal!"

The saying was brief, but the ginger didn't pay attention to it as he ran off and out through the now red portal.

Chuuya nearly tripped when he found himself back in the ballroom and he leaned his weight on his knees as he placed his hands on then and took several deep breaths. God, he felt like he has just run a marathon. The ginger looked up to see Bierce give a clap with her hands.

"Good! You made it!" She said in satisfaction before raising an eyebrow and looking to the red door. "And I see you've met my friend sooner than I was expecting."

"Friend…?" He mumbled in confusion as he looked to the door, only to jump when a bright yellow eye appeared upon it.

"Bierce!" The eye said. "Still so persistent after all this time." The eye shifted to Chuuya. "Do not listen to her, mortal. She's just using you. Give her the ring, and there will be… Consequences."

"What're you taking about?" The ginger demanded, though he took a slight step back.

"This is your only warning," the eye said menacingly. "Help her, and you will  _ suffer! _ "

That put the short man on edge as he grit his teeth, but he turned to the old woman when she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Pay no attention to him," she said calmly. "His powers cannot reach you here." That made him relax. "The ring piece…" He held the piece up to show her. "Place it at the altar, now!"

"Okay, sheesh," Chuuya mumbled before going to the statue placing the ring piece upon it. When it placed the ring piece down, he could've sworn he heard her mumble.

"It's been so long…"

The ginger narrowed his eyes at the piece before turning to the guardian. "Hey, Bierce, what exactly is this ring?" He demanded, crossing his arms. "If I'm going to be running around in nightmares like I'm some dog, then I might as well know what I'm getting myself into."

He watched her give his demand a thoughtful look before she grinned.

"Well, since you did come back in one piece," she relented. "The ring is called the Riddle of Heaven. An ironic name, don't you think? A demons power is contained inside it: the creature of infinite cruelty that you just met." Her eyes narrowed. " _ Malak. _ "

The Riddle of Heaven. Chuuya gave a snort, as he could see how ironic the name truly was if it contained the power of a demon. So Malak is his name…

"Complete the ring," Bierce continued, "and you can use Malak's power to fulfill your  _ darkest _ desires… Or so the legend goes."

Chuuya looked back at the ring altar with narrowed eyes. So if he gets all the pieces together, the demon's power will grant his wish of going home?

"One piece down…," he mumbled.

"Eight more pieces to go," Bierce added with a grin. "Are you ready for another nightmare?"

Chuuya flinched when the second portal turned red, and he grimaced the sight of a girl with a face that reminded him of the Joker. "Ready as I'll ever be," he mumbled before stepping through.

* * *

The man grinned in satisfaction when a red circle appeared around the symbol that Chuuya's body laid upon.

"Just as I suspected," he said happily. "I knew you'd be the one to get the job done." He stuck his nose back into his book. "But I do wonder… How do you feel having to relive the most painful memories of your past, hmm?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chuuya went through some shit huh? And this guy that's looking after him, he seems like a very shady dude.
> 
> Than you all for reading! See you next chapter!


	3. Into Madness pt 1 - Elementary Evil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memories can bring joy for anyone, but they can also bring a lot of pain for those who try so hard to forget. Chuuya had known that for a long time, and this nightmare will give him a grim reminder of how much pain memories can bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thank you all for being interested in this story. Here's chapter three. Enjoy.

_"Eight more pieces to go. Are you ready for another nightmare?"_

Chuuya blinked at the sight of bright red webbing in front of him in the hall, blocking the entrance to the nightmare. He got a little closer to inspect it, and he could hear the sounds of electricity emitting from the webbing.

"Malak has blocked the entrance," Bierce informed. "I don't think he likes you very much."

"Oh, don't worry, Malak," the ginger said sarcastically. "The feeling's fucking mutual…" He tapped on the webbing, and despite the sounds of electricity, he was surprised to find it didn't shock him.

"You're going to need great speed in order to break through that barrier."

"Oh, gee, really? My ability allowed me to control gravity! So if I still had it, MAYBE I'D BE ABLE TO BREAK IT!!"

Chuuya knew he was being salty over having his ability taken away, but could anyone really blame him?

"Go to the ring altar," the woman ordered. "I can unlock the power to boost your speed for brief periods of time."

The short man blinked before turning around and walking back through the portal to return to the ballroom. "Why not just give me back my ability instead?" He asked. "I'm sure if I use gravity, I'd be able to tear it down."

Bierce gave an amused smirk. "Now that would be going against the rules of Purgatory," she informed. "Plus, it's much more fun with the thrill of the chase, don't you think?"

Chuuya narrowed his eyes and jumped when he saw the orb bursts into the color of amethyst. He glared at it before stepping closer to the altar and placing his hand on the statue. He could feel a shocking feeling tingle down his body for a brief moment before it was gone in a flash.

"Use it wisely," Bierce said with a smile as the ginger stepped away. "And don't thank me. We'll work that out later."

"Don't remind me," Chuuya mumbled before going back through the portal. "Okay, treat this power the same way you treat your ability…" He took a couple of deep breaths before activating the speed boat and running through the web, breaking it in the process and running through the entrance. He came to an abrupt halt shortly after entering the nightmare.

"Wow," he mumbled. "That was almost as fast as _For the Tainted Sorrow_ …"

Chuuya looked around to find himself in what looked to be… a school office? He looked up when lightning struck to see a skylight. What elementary school office had a skylight?

"Don't you just miss your school days?" Bierce asked as the ginger looked around the very spacious office. "After all, it was the last time you were innocent."

"Hate to burst your bubble, lady," Chuuya said with a scowl, "but I've never been to a single school in my life."

"Oh, have you?... Ah, yes. Your memory is a bit… Scattered, won't you say so? Regardless of whether or not you went to school. Childhood is usually the last time anyone was innocent."

The ginger didn't respond to that, but walked forward to see the same web from within the hall.

"Another barrier. You know what to do."

 _'Hell yeah I do,'_ Chuuya thought to himself smugly, cracking his knuckles before activating the speed boost and breaking through the barrier. "Ah fuck!!" He yelled when he crashed over something that caused him to tumble over and land on his butt. He glared at the offending object that dared to get in his way, only to gape at the sight of a school bus in the wall that took most of the space in the hallway. "The fuck…?"

The ginger stood back up, rubbing his rear end with a hiss because that landing was not soft in the slightest. He heard Bierce laugh in his head. "Shut up, woman!!"

With that, he stormed forward, taking a sharp turn to the right and slowing down to read a little message on the wall.

_Welcome_

He almost thought it was blood, but upon further inspection, he realized the message was written in something else, because the color was a magenta and not blood red.

"Certainly tried to make it look like they wrote it in blood… What is this? Marker? Doesn't look like paint…"

Giving a shrug, Chuuya decided to just move forward and opened the double doors in front of him. Inside was what he assumed to be the school auditorium, considering the numerous amount of chairs in front of the stage. As he walked down the open space between the chairs, despite the darkness, he could barely make out a drawing of what he assumed to be a little girl with… Long arms? He flinched when the lights suddenly lit up on the stage in the center and he looked around when the piano started playing a tune.

All of a sudden, a little girl appeared on the stage in a flash.

"Oh, a new friend! I'm so excited! Welcome!" She said, and Chuuya gaped in horror. This was not a little girl, this was a little demon! If you could see the death white skin and empty dark sockets, those unnaturally long arms and a smile that reminded him of Jeff the Killer, you would understand. "I heard we might be getting a new student here soon," she continued with that God awful grin of hers and moving her long, burnt black arms around and shifting her claw like fingers along with the movement, "so I put together this little welcoming party for ya."

Chuuya gulped. This… _girl's_ cheerfulness reminded him a little bit of Elise, except Elise actually looked more _human._ "Thank you…" he said hesitantly.

The girl smiled brightly, the black markings on her face making him shiver. "It's really nice to have someone new to play with!" She said. "Don't tell the others, but they've been getting pretty boring lately."

 _'She must be talking about the soul shards,'_ Chuuya thought to himself as he stared at her dead skinned feet, which didn't have any shoes. Well, she wasn't human so it's not like she needed them. Come to think of it, her right leg had a cast on it The only thing that stood out was the white shirt underneath the dress.

He flinched when she gave a giggle. "But you'll spice things up a bit, won't ya?" She said. "You can share _everything_ with me! All your secrets, all your mistakes, all your _pain_ …" He grew uneasy at the threatening tone in her voice, much to the pain of his pride.

"That's what best friends are for…" She gave a manic smile as she held up her demonic hands. "Right!!" With that she disappeared in a flash and the doors on his left opened up.

"Looks like school is back in session," Bierce said.

Chuuya groaned as he walked to his left through the doors. "Please let there only be one of this kid. I get the feeling this one will give me a migraine…"

The ginger looked at the tablet to see he needed to get 283 soul shards this time. Odd. He would've thought that he'd need to get more than last time, but he could still work with this. When he turned left again, he saw a soul shard right in front of him and didn't hesitate to grab it before opening more double doors. The webbing, which he decided to call a barrier, was blocking his path again, but he was quick to boost up his speed in order to break through.

As he ran and gathered the shards, a shiver went down his spine as the girl spoke.

_"Ready or not, here I come~!"_

* * *

The man remained at his post beside Chuuya's corpse as he read his book. Well, _corpse_ sounded too harsh. But then again, reality was harsh, so there really wasn't much to it, was there?

"I see. So this is where you're hiding him?"

The man turned his attention away from his book to see a tall figure in a pale cloak, and if one ever tried to look upon his face, they would only see a skull mask. Rather than be frightened, Chuuya's "guardian" smiled.

"Good to see you, Pale," he said with a friendly tone. "Lovely weather today, isn't it?"

The skull masked figure, Pale as they are referred to, didn't respond to that. They looked at the corpse beside the man before returning their attention to him.

"Do you realize the panic you've inflicted upon those who he was close to," they said, their voice quite hoarse and masculine, confirming them to be male.

"I'm well aware," the guardian said casually.

"Then you should know that they are looking for his body."

He hummed. "His organization? The man who failed to save him? Or perhaps… Chuuya Nakahara's murderer?"

Pale was silent for one moment before giving the guardian what would be a hard look if anyone were to see through the mask. "Would it vex you if I said it was all three?"

"Ah, I see that I've caused unrest indeed. How irresponsible of me."

"You don't sound regretful, _Ambrose_."

The guardian of Chuuya's corpse, Ambrose, only gave a gentle smile. "Well, someone has to watch over him as he suffers through purgatory, don't they? Neither Osamu Dazai nor the Port Mafia would be able to protect this body from Red while he's performing his task. Then again, Red technically wasn't the one who killed Chuuya. His own power killed him."

"Because she made sure it would kill him," Pale stated. "The infamous Demon Prodigy just needed to be at a good distance away from the vessel."

"Oh. Did you assist her in this?"

"Of course not. This was her doing alone."

Ambrose closed his book and set it on his lap before he looked at Pale. "Speaking of which, what's been happening with Red?" He questioned. "Why did she lure in the boy to have his own power kill him? I thought you had good control over her."

Pale walked towards the body and stared at it. "I don't know why she went after him," he said solemnly. "I do keep her under control, but lately she's been off. She's always had a love of carnage when it came to a fight with the enemy. But this isn't like her."

"It was too well thought out…"

Pale reached out his ashen gloved hand and gently pet Chuuya's ginger hair. "Even with so much power, humans are so fragile in the end," he commented.

"Ah, yes, power or no, no one can escape death."

* * *

God this school was more of a maze than the hotel, but at least there was a little more space. 212 shards left. God, he thought he'd be tired by now, but the speed boost really helped him out.

"I'm gonna get ya!" The little girl, whose name was Agatha as he later learned, called out from the other side of the double doors her was nearing.

He skidded to a halt before turning around and running towards a nearby classroom. He's come across many classrooms in his time here. A couple of them had messages like "I hate your face" and "1+1= RIP". Chuuya almost found it cute. _Almost._ Then there was that one classroom that had canvases of pictures, which he had to guess was the art room.

But this latest classroom he’s come across? This classroom had a projector showing a clip of what appeared to be a cemetery. The ginger got a little closer to inspect the image as he looked at one grave in particular.

"An unmarked grave," Bierce said. "It must be hers."

Chuuya's heartstrings pulled as he placed his hand on the unmarked grave. So Agatha had died? She was so young…

He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to feel sorry for the little girl. He needed to find the soul shards. So he continued forward and gathered the shards.

  1. 210\. 209. 208. 2--



"Found ya!!"

Before Agatha could grab him, Chuuya used the speed boost to make a run for it in the other direction.

"Hey that's cheating!!" Agatha screamed behind him.

"Sucks for you kid!" He called back and he hastily turned a corner.

He didn't look too see if she was following him, because it was clearly obvious that she was. He made a few more turns before he found that he finally lost her. He looked at the tablet and grimaced. Damnit. That kid made him run away from the shards. Now he'll have to take the long way back.

"Damn kid…"

He walked to the same classroom that he saw the grave in, but the image it showed him put him to shock. Chuuya was seeing his seven year old self sitting in an alley, tattered blanket used to keep him from freezing in the cold rainy night. Seeing this memory hurt Chuuya greatly, and he clenched his hands into tight fists.

"Well, I didn't expect to find this," Bierce said in mock surprise. "I see why you never went to school now."

"Shut up," Chuuya said bitterly before leaving the classroom.

Thankfully, Bierce didn't say anything else as he continued on with gathering the soul shards. As he gathered them all, he couldn't help but feel agitated because God damn this place was big for an elementary school. Then again, it is a nightmare… But it also made him think…

_What would I have been like if I had gone to school? Would it have been the last time I was innocent?_

_… or was I ever innocent at all?_

* * *

“159… 158…”

Chuuya came across yet another set of double doors and opened them up to find the ring barrier.

“There it is,” Bierce said. “The ring barrier will always be found at the heart of each nightmare.”

“Good to know,” Chuuya said before grabbing the shard in front and then going around it to grab the shard in the back.

“That’s all of the shards here… But it’s only half…”

The ginger got confused and looked at the tablet to make sure the old woman wasn’t messing with him. Only to find that she was right. He didn’t see anymore shards on the tablet, and yet there was 156 left.

“The ring barrier is still active,” Bierce said. “There must be more in another part of the school.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. Hurry, and find the next zone!”

Chuuya rushed toward the double doors on the other end and opened them up to find himself in the gym. As the doors closed behind him, he looked up to see a demonic figure walking across the upper level of the room.

“Oi! Who the hell are you?” he called out as he walked over to get a closer look.

The only features he could make out were a red face, demon horns, and a black suit. He barely got a glimpse of a jack o'lantern smile and empty sockets before the figure disappeared with a laugh. Chuuya shivered from the laugh before deciding to ignore it and look down at his tablet. Ah, the rest of the shards were just behind these doors. He gave a firm nod before opening them up and walking forward, but froze as he took in the scenery. The school was the same in style and structure, except it was much more run down than the first zone. He looked to see the webbing and walked forward to get ready to use the--

“Aww, you took all my friends!” Agatha said as she appeared in a flash, causing him to yelp and jump back a little. “Well, it’s been a while since I got to play with anyone this long. But I can’t play around with you anymore.” Chuuya gulped as that manic grin came back. “Now, I’ll show you what I can _really_ do.” She gave a chuckle before disappearing.

God, that kid reminded him of Q, except he actually looked normal and less demonic.

He shook his head to snap himself out of it before boosting up his speed to run through the barrier and he busted through the double doors. What he saw made him stop in his tracks and gape in horror. Behind the classroom windows were silhouettes of many children, who were laughing and hopping in excitement.

“Like what I’ve done with the place?” he heard Agatha say.

“How creative,” Bierce said in amusement.

“What is this?” the ginger asked nervously.

“It’s her victims. This school has become her doll house.”

“That’s fucked up…”

He slowly walked by the many windows where the children only continued to laugh and play around within the safety of their classrooms. God, there were so many of them. What had they done to deserve this?

“Ready or not. Here I come~!”

His blue eyes widened before he broke into a sprint and started gathering the shards. He didn’t know what tricks Agatha had up her sleeves, but he wasn’t going to sit around and wait to find out the hard way. He had managed to grab at least eight of the shards after making a few turns before he found himself in a classroom. He saw the desks moving in a circle and paper flying everywhere.

“Now, this is what I call a haunted school,” he mumbled as he gathered the two shards in the classroom before leaving.

“Okay, 146 shards left. This is goo--”

He cut himself off as he heard maniacal laughter behind him and used his speed boost to run. “Holy fuck!!” he yelled as Agatha teleported in front of his path and lunged for him, forcing him to slide beneath her and then continue running.

“You cheated again!!”

“You’re complaining about _me_ cheating!? You can fucking teleport!! If anyone is cheating, it’s you!!”

God, why was he arguing with some ghost kid!? He needed to focus!!

Chuuya ran around to make Agatha lose sight of him before hiding himself in the bathroom to catch his breath. He started to think that, while he was glad there weren't multiple Agatha’s, she was an even bigger pain in the ass than the monkeys. He looked up and blinked when he found himself with his seven year-old self in the same alley he used to just wait around in. Chuuya had closed his hands into tight fists again as he stared sadly at this memory.

Why this again? Why was this nightmare showing his past as a child? Why was it showing his most miserable days that he tried _so hard_ to forget after joining the Port Mafia?

The man watched as the seven year-old Chuuya coughed a bit and shivered. Despite the blanket wrapped tightly around his small frame, it wasn’t enough to keep him warm. The adult Chuuya flinched as he heard footsteps from the other side and waved his hands to make the memory fade away. He knew this memory. This was the time the Sheeps had found him, and he’d rather not think of the people who betrayed him.

Thinking of them would lead him to thinking of Dazai, and how that bastard had betrayed him by letting him die.

Chuuya’s eyes burned, and he knew that he was close to crying, but he willed himself not to. He couldn’t cry, not at a time like this. Pulling himself together, he opened the door and checked to see if the coast was clear before slipping out and running forward.

* * *

“Once upon a time, there was a little boy who was lost to the world, carrying a dangerous entity that served to do nothing but cause destruction everywhere it went. He had no memory of who he truly was or where he came from, so the little boy remained on the streets, cold and hungry. One day, a group of delinquents took him in and helped him grow to harness the dangerous power and--”

“That’s rather cruel, don’t you think?”

Ambrose looked up from his book and gave Pale a confused look.

“Pardon? What cruelty do you speak of?” he asked.

“Don’t play dumb, Ambrose,” Pale said. “We both know that you are speaking of that boy’s past. Or at least what he remembers.”

The guardian gave a casual smile. “But it’s the past that makes anyone’s story interesting, don’t you think?” he asked. “From infancy, to childhood, to adulthood, all the way to their elderly days! Every person has a story, whether it is a happy one or a sad one. I’m just simply telling you of this boy’s life before he died.”

The cloaked man scoffed. “You speak of a person’s story as if they actually mattered to you,” he said. “As cynical as ever. Even before you became a guardian.”

“Is Red not the same way?”

“Of course she is.”

“Then who are you to judge?”

Pale chose not to respond to that and pet Chuuya's hair. "I really don't have an explanation for her recent behavior," he said, cutting Ambrose off from speaking. "I had tried to interrogate her, but she refused to speak."

Ambrose hummed. "I see. Then that's all the more reason this why body needs to be protected."

_Because Red is looking for him to finish the job._

* * *

"Ten more shards to go!" Chuuya said as he ran from Agatha.

"Stop stealing my friends!!" She yelled before teleporting in front of him and jumping on him.

Chuuya screamed as he held her face back to keep her from biting him. However, he choked when he felt her large hands wrap themselves around his neck.

"Friends don't run from friends!" The little girl yelled as she strangled him.

"Ack!! You're lucky... I wouldn't hurt a little kid…"

Chuuya could feel his vision fading from the lack of oxygen as Agatha was practically crushing his windpipe, but he miraculously he was able to spot the stun orb behind her. He moved forward, which was a bit of a struggle considering that he was being strangled to death and keeping the girl's face away from his. He reached the hand that had held onto her wrists out before his fingertips touched the orb and stunned her.

Agatha fell to the ground as the ginger gasped and coughed and leaned against the wall while he glanced at the child, who groaned as if she was dizzy. Damn, that kid had a strong grip. Once he finally caught his breath, her used his speed boost to escape Agatha and get five shards that was in the form of a circle.

"Damnit, the rest are still so far away," Chuuya mumbled. He looked up and grabbed the red shard. "Well, at least I'll know where she is."

Thankfully, Agatha was still in the same place as he got further away to get rest of the shards that were aligned in a straight line.

Fine. Four. Three. Two. One!

"Yes!" Chuuya said as he grabbed the last shard.

"That's the last shard," Bierce said. "Now get to the ring piece, before Agatha gets you."

The ginger nodded and ran forward as he heard Agatha cry out.

"You'll never get the ring! I won't let you!"

"Too fucking bad!" Chuuya claimed as he followed the green trail on the tablet to get to the altar, at least he hoped that's what it was for. It was proven to be true when he went through some double doors and he finds himself in the gym where the ring barrier was and he rushed to place the shards inside to open up and orb and grab the piece. "Hah!" He gave a triumphant grin and took notice that it was raining in the room.

Deciding to ignore it, there petite mafia executive rushed to the exit, only for the doors to close when he reaches it.

"What the fuck!!" Chuuya yelled as he tried to pull the doors open. He banged his fist on the door in frustration below looking to find another way out.

He soon hears the familiar sound of teleportation and slowly walked to stand beside the statue. What he saw was an enraged Agatha, having gone into her frenzy form just like the monkeys had done last time. Her skin was darker and the white undershirt was now red, along with her eyes. He could tell that she was enraged from the way she was gritting her rotten teeth.

"I welcome you here and I tried so hard to be nice to you, but you don't care!" She said angrily. "You don't want to be my friend, you just wanna steal my things! You're a mean…" he blinked as she mumbled a few things, probably curse words "bad person!!" Chuuya watched as Agatha tried to catch her breath below she gave him an evil grin. "Now you're in trouble… You made _Daddy_ mad, too."

"Daddy…?" He mumbled as she disappeared. When the doors opened, there stood there same demon he had seen earlier.

"End of the road mortal…" the demon said and he sounded eerily familiar. But before Chuuya could deduce where he heard that voice from, the demon turned into a dark phantom. "Give that back to me!"

"Holy shit!!" The ginger yelled as he used the speed boost to make a run for it as the phantom gave chase.

"Hand it over, and I'll make your death _quick!_ " Chuuya heard him say as he almost ran into a fake portal and skidded to a stop before turning and taking a different route.

"Move faster! Malak's here!" Bierce commanded.

" _That's_ Malak?!" The ginger yelled in shock, but pushed open the doors and ran to get to the portal.

"Try to run," he heard Agatha say. "It won't do you any good."

Chuuya chose to ignore her as he hot to the doors as the end, only for them to close lock. "Uh-uh-uh! No shortcuts!" He heard Agatha say as he tried to pry the doors open.

"Making me take the long way, eh?" He growled. "I see how it is!" He then ran to the side doors and went through just as Malak had tried to grab him. "Too slow!" He told the phantom before speed boosting his way to the portal.

It only took him a couple of turns before he managed to reach the auditorium. “Later, suckers!” he said as he went for the door only for it to close as Agatha appeared, making him skid to a halt.

“Going somewhere!?” she said before teleporting behind him. “You! You’ll never escape! I won't let you take my friends from me!”

Chuuya backed up as Agatha started to slowly walk towards him. He looked at the door and bit his lip before returning his attention to the little girl with an angry glare.

“Look, kid,” he said, “these shards aren’t your friends. They’re all people that tried to escape this place but didn’t manage to because you _killed them._ Friends don’t kill friends!”

That made Agatha stop and she stared at Chuuya long and hard, as if she was contemplating his words. The ginger was glad that he was able to stall her with that for a moment when the doors opened.

“It’s open!” Bierce said, and that was all the signal Chuuya needed before he turned and broke into a speed boosted sprint.

“Bierce, stay out of my room!” He heard Agatha cry out before she took off after him. “ _You’re both cheating!_ ”

Chuuya had managed to get to the office where the portal was, but stopped when the area changed to a giant crater that was large enough to build a city out of it. He stared at the crater with wide eyes. He knew this place… But from where? He looked around the crater and felt the wind blowing wildly. He turned to see the source, and his heart stopped. Right before his eyes, the same seven year-old Chuuya stood before a giant black beast that towered over him. The child’s eyes were wide in shock and a hint of fear as the beast stared him down. Before Chuuya could blink, his heart leaped into his throat as he watched the beast slowly merge itself with the child, and black wisps started to appear all over the child’s skin. The child choked for air as the merging continued on until the beast was no longer in sight.

Chuuya didn’t notice Agatha creeping up on him to strike him, too distracted with the sight of his seven year-old self merging with what he could only assume was the god of calamity, Arahabaki. Before she could land a blow, the seven year-old Chuuya started to scream and everything around him started to crack before pieces of the earth started to fly around wildly. Agatha got swept up in the wind with a yell. As for the adult Chuuya? He could only stare at his childhood self before the wind swept him up as well and threw him into the portal.

Once he was through the portal, something about Agatha hit him.

_She was almost the same age._

This revelation had his tears falling from his face.

_Memories betray me here._

Despite this, he only closed his tearful blue eyes with a look of firm resolve.

_I need to keep going. I just need to survive a bit longer._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Memories can be rather painful sometimes, huh?


	4. Into Madness pt 2 - Deadly Decadence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Chuuya enters the third nightmare, he discovers that his own memories aren't the only ones that he sees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 500\. Hits.
> 
> This fic reached 500 hits.
> 
> I can't believe it. So many people have taken an interest in this fic. I'm both honored and dumbfounded.
> 
> Okay, this chapter will contain a series of swears. If you read this, you'll see why.

“Two down, seven more to go,” Bierce said as Chuuya placed the second ring piece on the altar. “Want to try for another?”

“Do you even need to ask?” the ginger said with a rather solemn expression as another portal opened up.

He looked to the smiling face of a European marine. At least, he thinks that’s what they're called. Giving a slight shrug, the short male stepped through the portal and saw three pits of spikes.

“You’ll need more than a speed boost to get across that,” the old woman said. “Fall into the pit, and I think we can both guess where you’ll end up.”

“Ah, quite a typical trap,” Chuuya mumbled as he examined the pit.

“Fortunately for you, I can give you the power to jump across.”

“... That’s it? Jumping isn’t exactly that har--”

“No, not with those spindly legs of yours! I’m talking _teleportation._ Go to the ring altar.”

The ginger gaped in offense at what she said about his legs. His legs were strong as hell, damnit!! How dare she!! He stomped his way back to the ring altar and placed his hand on it, feeling another wave of energy flow through his body before it was gone just like the last time.

“Go on, give it a try,” Bierce encouraged teasingly. “I’ll just add it to your tab.”

Chuuya had turned to step towards the portal, but turned back around and stomped towards Bierce. “For the record, I am known as the best martial artist in the Port Mafia!” he said as he pointed an accusing finger at her. “So my legs are in perfect shape, thank you very much!”

The woman only gave an amused smile as the ginger stormed back through the portal. Chuuya studied the distance of each pit, trying to figure out how to use teleportation. “Maybe I should just concentrate on where to land,” he mumbled to himself. He closed his eyes and calmed himself down before opening them again, and sure enough, a bright red circle was swirling on the other side of the pit. He took a deep breath before he was on the other side in the same spot. He looked behind himself in slight awe. “Impressive.”

He used teleportation to get to the entrance before stepping through.

* * *

Brown hair spread across the desk as dull brown eyes stared at the other end of his desk. Dazai looked like he hadn't slept for days, and to be honest that concept was true. He couldn't sleep. He was plagued by nightmares of Chuuya's death.

Chuuya… Chuuya… Oh Chuuya… How could Dazai let it happen? How could he let him die like that? Let his own power kill him?

_'No, it wasn't me. It was that bitch!'_

Dazai clenched his fist as he remembered the masked woman in a red coat. That cheshire smile painted on the mask had haunted his nightmares along with Chuuya's death. Every time he saw her, the mocking tone of her voice would ring in his ears.

_"You let him die~ Just another reason for him to hate you!"_

The brunette grit his teeth as he gripped the edge of his desk. Damn that woman! Damn her!

"Dazai-san…?"

Dazai looked to see Atsushi giving him a worried expression. "Are you okay?" He asked. "You look like you haven't slept in days."

The brunette faked a smile. "I'm fine, Atsushi-kun," he said. "No need to worry…"

The silver haired boy was going to say something, but Kunikida beat him to it.

"Dazai, the president wants to see you," the blonde said seriously.

Dazai looked at Kunikida for a minute before getting up from his desk chair and walking to the president's office. He opened the door to see Fukuzawa sitting at his desk. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes, Dazai, please sit," Fukuzawa said.

The bandaged man went over to the vacant chair and sat down.

"Dazai, you should take the next few days off."

Brown eyes widened. "What? Why!?"

"You have not had any rest for days. You haven't even eaten for days either. You must take this time to better your health."

"But I can't rest! I have to look for Chuuya!"

The silver haired man's eyes softened at that. "Dazai, Ranpo can find him."

"I have to be the one to find him! God only knows what's going on with whoever took him!" The president watched his subordinate go into hysterics in shock. "President, I'm completely fine! I don't need to rest!"

"Dazai!!"

Dazai flinched when Fukuzawa raised his voice and slumped in his chair. The president softened his gaze once more. "What happened to Chuuya Nakahara was not your fault," he said. "I understand that you want to look for him, but you can't do that until you've had proper rest. Just go rest and eat, and you can continue your search once you've bettered your health."

Dazai stared at the president with a dead look in his eyes.

"It is not a request. It is an order."

The bandaged man wanted to protest, but he knew that he wasn't going to get anywhere. So with a defeated sigh, he relented. "Yes, sir…"

* * *

Chuuya blinked as he found himself in front of a fountain in a Victorian garden.

"Keep your eyes open, love," Bierce warned. "The statues in this place are awfully lifelike."

“I don’t like the sound of that,” the ginger mumbled before walking toward the large fountain to examine it. It was very beautiful, even in the dead of night. He looked into the dark water to stare at his own reflection, but his expression changed to concern as he saw tear streaks stained on his face.

When did he start crying? How long had he been crying? When did his tears dry up? Why hadn’t Bierce said anything? Because he was sure that she had to have noticed it. She looked like the type to be nosy. Deciding to leave it alone for now, Chuuya knelt down as he removed his gloves to dip his hands into the water so he could cup it and bring up to wash his face.He couldn’t be seen looking like a mess at a time like this.

He took off his short jacket to use it to dry his face and hands before putting it back on. He grabbed his gloves before standing up and walking towards the stairs where a large statue of a marine was giving a salute as if to greet him. As he walked up the stairs while putting his gloves back on, he noticed the plaque that had a rather interesting message on it.

_Beyond these gates,_

_Judgement awaits_

“They must really want to remind me that I’m in Purgatory, huh…”

After reading the plaque, Chuuya continued up the stairs and then pushed open the gates. He walked down the trail and felt rather disturbed by the writings on the walls.

_Never look away! They are always watching!_

“Well, that’s not comforting at all…”

The petite mafia executive continued to the next set of gates and the message next to it was rather interesting.

_Libera tutemet_

"Free yourself…" Good Lord, he was starting to feel bad for all of the souls that didn't make it here. But he'll be sure to get them out, even if he's only doing this for his own benefit.

With that mindset, the ginger pushed the gates open and walked forward. As he walked, he couldn't help but gaze at the landscaping.

"I wonder who does the landscaping here," Bierce said in wonder. "Very impressive."

"Something we both agree on for once."

The landscaping really was impressive. The Victorian era had to have been quite beautiful back then. Chuuya spotted a flower next to his feet and he gaped as he looked up and saw a beautiful meadow. Was this another memory? He didn't remember this place. He soon spotted what looked to be a person at a good distance away from him. This person had long black hair, and despite their back being towards him, Chuuya could tell that the person was wearing a black yukata.

Blue eyes blinked for a moment before the person vanished along with the meadow.

"Who the hell was that…?"

He looked forward and found himself standing in front of a statue and looked it over. "Is this thing made of gold?" He mumbled before shrugging it off and stepping around. He heard a loud chuckle and he turned to see the statue facing him before going pale. "Oh, God, please tell me it's not one of those!"

Chuuya stared at the statue for a moment before turning back and walking toward the gates. On the plaques next to it, were words that made him gulp slightly.

_Tread no further,_

_We are watching_

"Oh God, I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?"

Despite saying that, the ginger pushed the metal gates open, the offending barriers giving a loud screeching noise, and he turned to see the statue was gone.

"Aw, son of a bitch," Chuuya mumbled nervously as he turned forward and stepped within the hedge maze, flinching when the gates closed back up behind him. "Come on, Chuuya, don't get cold feet now. You're an executive for God's sake. You've faced a lot of shit in your life. Guns, other ability users, tentacle monsters, fucking _dragons!!!_ What's a statue gonna do?"

He walked up to one of the plaques and read.

"You paid no heed, now you shall bleed…"

The ginger looked at the tablet and was relieved that there were only fifty shards he needed to get in this zone. Although he did wish they weren't all scattered about like that. He walked to his right and was going to step through an opening when spikes suddenly shot up, making him stumble back. "What the fuck!?"

"Watch your step," Bierce warned. "It's hard to run with a gaping hole in your foot."

"Excuse me?" He said. "You didn't tell me that there were going to be traps in this place!"

Chuuya suddenly fell silent as he thought he heard the faint sound of footsteps, but when he turned to the side it stopped. Figuring he was just hearing things, he looked back down at the tablet and decided to go for the one behind him, where he saw that there wasn't any spikes.

Through making a couple of turns in the maze, he'd managed to grab at least two of the shards when he started hearing the footsteps again. But…

"In case you were wondering," the old woman said. "Yes, those footsteps are getting louder."

Chuuya peeked out of an opening when he heard laughter and saw a statue on one side. "Oh God, I knew it was going to be one of those!" He groaned. He heard breathing from behind and turned to see another statue. "Shit, they're trying to corner me. Come on, Chuuya, think!" He had to look in different directions whenever when statue breathed or giggled until they were both in his line of vision and blocking his path. He suddenly remembered teleportation, and focused on making the circle appear a good distance behind the statues before teleporting and boosting up his speed to run. He could hear them coming after him from behind, and they almost sounded like they were catching up, which didn’t ease his worries at all.

He’d managed to get five more shards, leaving him with 43 shards left to be gathered. However, he found that this nightmare was far more difficult than the other two. Even with the stuns and the enemy reveals, Chuuya could barely avoid both running into the statues and the traps. His response to all of this? Some colorful swearing and screaming.

He found himself in a corner of a squared space, panting as he faced at least _four_ of these statue fuckers staring at him with those creepy smiles of theirs. The ginger observed them for a moment as he caught his breath, and as he observed them, he started to think.

These statues only ever moved when he wasn’t looking at them, and he did look at them, they would freeze up in a new position. “Time for a little experiment,” he mumbled as he took a step backwards, slow and steady, and began to walk backwards as he kept his eyes on them. “Steady now…” Once he was at another path, his stance remained as he started to step sideways and the statues were gone from his vision, replaced with the green leaves of the hedge. Chuuya listened for any footsteps, but found that there were none. So if he memorizes their positions, he can make sure that they remain in the place of his field of vision even if he isn’t looking at them! “Very clever, Malak,” he mumbled as he continued to step sideways.

This was a good strategy, but he felt that it won’t last for long if he’s going to avoid the traps. Oh, well, he’ll be damned if he doesn’t at least try.

* * *

"You're being irrational, Kouyou."

Kouyou glared at Mori. "Being irrational about what exactly?" She asked in an accusing tone. "That I am trying to look for Chuuya's body? Or that I'm using all our resources to find him? Or the fact that you refuse to help find him?"

Mori sighed. “It isn’t that I refuse to help,” he insisted. “I’m simply too preoccupied with regaining the cargo that was stolen by this so called ‘Red’. I’m afraid Chuuya is going to have to wait.”

“You put the Port Mafia cargo at top priority over a loyal executive?” the red haired woman once again accused.

“Kouyou, I am just as saddened by his passing as you are,” the mafia boss said sternly. “But think about what he would want. He would want the Port Mafia to be back in tip top shape after a small conflict with an enemy group.”

“But he would also not want to be forgotten!” Kouyou stated as she got up from her seat and turned to leave. “You can stay here and worry about that cargo all you want. _I_ will look for Chuuya myself!”

As the woman walked out and slammed the door, Mori gave a sigh and turned to the sunset. In all honesty, losing Chuuya like this truly was a tragedy. He can understand why Kouyou would be so distressed. The young executive was so loyal, he deserved at least a proper burial. But that has to wait until the cargo can be recovered.

“You really upset her, Rintarou,” Elise piped up as she drew a picture of Chuuya laying in a bed of flowers.

“I suppose I did, Elise-chan,” Mori sighed once again. “But Kouyou can learn to be patient.”

“She just said she’s going to look for Chuuya herself,” she pointed out.

“Ah, that she did, but she’ll come to her senses. After all, she herself is an executive and knows where her priority lies.”

Kouyou angrily walked through the halls, trying so hard to contain her emotions. But she could feel them slipping out as she kept picturing Chuuya falling from the sky and landing on the ground. She remembered how he looked… Face dripping with blood from his head, his eyes, nose, mouth… And when she had approached him, and tried to search for a pulse, she remembered her heart breaking when she felt nothing. She was desperate enough to try and listen to his heartbeat, only to hear nothing. She remembered the tears that started to form in her eyes as she realized that he was dead. His own power killed him.

But she also remembered the rage she felt at the sight of the person who _dared_ come to his side after he had failed to pull him out of _Corruption._ Dazai was in shock at the sight of Chuuya’s dead body, and it angered Kouyou because she felt that he had no right to be in shock when he was the one who didn’t come to him in time. “This is your fault…” she remembered whispering to him.

Then the appearance of that strange man, who only gave a sad smile towards her, and she remembered his words.

_“I do apologise, but I must borrow this young chap.”_

“Kouyou-san…”

Kouyou was pulled out of her thoughts as she stopped at the sight of Hirotsu approaching her. “Hirotsu,” she said with a stern look. “If you are here to stop me, I will not pay heed to whatever you wish to use to stop me.”

“I am not here to stop you, Kouyou-san,” the Black Lizard commander said calmly. “However, I must warn you that the boss will not take this lying down.”

“He’ll just have to then. I am going to look for Chuuya so he can be given a proper burial. He does not deserve this.”

Silence fell upon the two before the old man gave a bow.

“Then allow me the honor of aiding you in your search,” he said, causing her eyes to widen in shock. “Chuuya-san was a very important member of Port Mafia. What happened to him was despicable, and if there was ever a chance I could go back in time to save him, I would without a moment of hesitation.” He straightened up and gave her a soft look. “I cared for him just as much as you did, Kouyou-san, and his subordinates looked up to him greatly. Please, at least allow someone to assist you in this.”

Kouyou stared at him long and hard, and she didn’t realize her tears were falling until she covered her mouth with the sleeve of her kimono.

“Thank you…”

* * *

Chuuya breathed a deep sigh as he got shard number 25. He had to admit, staying in the same position just for the sake of keeping these creepy statues in one place was hard, especially when he’s having to watch out for traps at the same time. Still, he prided himself with using the ability of patience. Ane-san would be so proud of him for that, he’s sure.

Ane-san… Chuuya’s heart clenched just thinking about her. How was she doing? Was she enjoying her tea? Was she catering to the courtesan girls back home? Was she on a mission?... does she know that he’s dead?

“Thinking awfully hard about that woman, aren’t you?” Bierce asked.

“Yeah,” he admitted. "She was my mentor when I entered the Port Mafia, and she just eventually became like family to me…"

"Very interesting…"

Chuuya flinched as he heard the spikes behind him. "Okay, time to get out of position," he mumbled before turning to face the spikes and teleporting forward and boosting up his speed. Just as he did that, he started hearing footsteps in the distance, but he didn't worry about it as he got at least a couple more shards. He shuddered as he felt a breath his neck after his boost wore off and he jumped away to look at the smiling statue.

"God, could you not breathe down my neck!?" He yelled as he held the back of his neck.

_"God, could you not breathe down my neck!?"_

Chuuya froze as the scenery changed to a forest clearing. He remembered this place. This was the place where he went to fight a woman named "Red". He'd gone alone with the intention of killing her, but for some reason, Dazai decided to be a nuisance and tag along.

 _"It's not my fault that you're such a chibiko that my breath can reach down your neck,"_ Dazai said, and he had the _audacity_ to lean down and blow on the back of Chuuya's neck.

 _"Knock it off, damnit!!"_ The ginger yelled, rubbing the back of his neck with a blush.

Chuuya watched as Dazai only gave that stupid smirk. _"Aw, is chibi not used to this kind of attention?"_ He teased. _"His cheeks are the color of cherries~ or perhaps strawberries~ Oh, maybe even red apples~!"_

_"GO TO HELL, YOU SHITTY MACKEREL!!!"_

Chuuya jumped when the memory faded and a statue nearly grabbed him from behind. Luckily, he was quick to teleport forward before using his speed boost to get away. “Shit! That was close…” he sighed when he was at a good distance. He heard footsteps before deciding to stand very still. As he waited for more of the statues to come, he started to think. Why on earth did that memory just pop up all of a sudden? Dazai was the last thing he needed on his mind, especially since it was the bastard’s fault he was in Purgatory in the first place.

Laughter soon grabbed his attention and he looked to see two of the statues on one side of the opening and one at the other side. Chuuya looked at the tablet to see which would be the best route, hoping to see which side had the most shards, since that was his top priority along with not dying… When he found that the next few shards were going to be on the left, he sighed before calmly walking forward to the left side, where the two statues were. He stopped at a good distance away from them before teleporting behind them and speed boosting his way to the shards. He was able to grab five more shards, though he also needed to be careful with the traps, as he nearly got stabbed by the spikes.

Something tells him that this nightmare will be more of an annoying challenge than he expected.

* * *

Ambrose hummed a merry tune as he continued reading his book while Pale played with Chuuya’s hair.

“Say, Pale, have you ever wondered why people try to avoid death, but know that they can’t?” Chuuya’s guardian suddenly asked.

“They cling to life,” Pale answered simply. “There’s nothing more to it. Humans cling to life for a little longer so they can be with their families, or achieve a goal that they do not wish to fail at accomplishing. But when it’s time for them to leave the earth, some accept it and others don’t… That’s why he’s trying to find the ring pieces, isn’t it?”

“That is correct,” Ambrose said with a grin. “He’s not ready to go yet, and so he’s going to fight tooth and nail to return to the world of the living!”

“What do you gain from this, Ambrose?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve only done this every few years. What makes you think you can gain anything from this boy?”

The blonde man hummed and looked up at the ceiling with a faint smile. “I suppose… I can tell you when I feel like telling you.”

Pale sighed. “Such a fickle man you are…”

"Yet you continuously seek out my company~"

"Hmph…"

* * *

"Just one more…" Chuuya mumbled as he slowly inches towards the last shard before grabbing it. "Yes!"

"This zone is clear," Bierce said. "Get to the manor!"

The ginger nodded and listened for any movement. He breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't hear anything before taking the directions to arrive at the gates to the manor. Chuuya entered through as the gates closed behind him.

"How nostalgic," the old woman sighed as the petite executive looked at the manor. "I used to have a manor like this?"

"You did, huh?"

"Oh, yes. Much bigger, of course."

Chuuya hummed. He actually didn't doubt that Bierce would have a bigger manor than this one. He's seen his fair share of mansions, but looking at it now he can't help but wonder what Bierce's life was like. From the way she talked, she had to have lived in the world of the living before, right? He supposed he'll ask her later.

He walked forward and walked up the stairs as the doors started to open up. Chuuya looked back at the hedge maze before stepping inside, flinching as the doors closed behind him.

"Is it terribly rude to let yourself in unannounced?" Bierce asked.

"Well, it's not like anyone lives here," Chuuya reasoned as he walked through the hall of the entrance, seeing the ring altar in the middle of the room in front of dinner large stairs.

Chuuya felt pretty confident as he took out the tablet. "This should be a piece of--"

_304_

………

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?"

Bierce nearly laughed in amusement as Chuuya looked around, shaking in obvious anger. He looked up and saw Malak watching him in amusement before vanishing with a cackle. Tick marks appeared at Chuuya's temple and he flipped off the spot where Malak once was as if he's still there. "Fuck you, too, Malak!!"

He was allowed himself a few moments to calm himself before the old woman spoke.

"You found the altar, now get the rest of the shards."

"I'm going!"

Chuuya stomped his way to the stairs and stopped as he looked both ways and saw levers. "Huh… Which way should I go first?" He mumbled before deciding to go left. When he got to the other side, two passes were closed by gold bars. He looked behind him to look back at the lever. "Is that what this is for…?" To answer his question, he walked towards the lever and pulled it down, opening up the passageways. "Well, that answers my question."

He walked up and decided to take the second path, which had some soup shards that he was able to get without the need to wait, leading him to what he assumed was either a living area or a lounge. Whichever it was, it had a large amount of soul shards. Once he managed to gather them all, he went forward to the marble hall, only to find, not only other soul shards…

But the _goddamn spikes!!_

"Are you freaking shitting me!" Chuuya groaned. "I have to avoid traps in this goddamn mansion, too!?" He heard footsteps behind him teleported over the spikes and speed boosted his way out. "You couldn't even give me a head start!?"

The ginger skidded a stop once he saw a statue blocking his path and made a left. "God damn, these fuckers really like to-- FUCK!!!" He stopped immediately when a giant blade swung in front of him, nicking a bit of his hair. "Swinging axes!! Seriously!?"

This was going to be a long task…

* * *

Chuuya slumped in a chair and tried to catch his breath, keeping an eye on the statues that were on the other side of the room. "Fucking hell…," he croaked, his throat sore from all of the screaming he did. Hey, could anyone blame him? He had to avoid swinging axes, spikes hidden in the floor, and living fucking _statues._ If you were in his position, you'd know how he felt.

The ginger pulled the tablet out and saw that he now had 152 shards left.

"Halfway there and you're still alive," Bierce said in surprise. "I don't know whether to be impressed, or disappointed."

"You want your stupid ring piece or not, you hag!?" Chuuya snapped as a few tick marks appeared on his head.

After taking a moment to calm down, Chuuya got up from the chair he was sitting on, and slowly made his way to the other end, keeping a close watch on the statues. He stopped when spikes shot up behind him and then quickly walked backwards across then once they weren't up.

He had reached to about 145 when he found a lone leave in a dark hallway. The ginger was confused and curious as to why it was there, and as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. The executive reached out and pulled the lever down, hearing the faint sound of a door opening in the far distance. He looked around for any statues before deciding to head for the secret room, which he assumed he had opened. He used the map to get to the room, and what he found stunned him to silence.

Six statues were in a circle above what looked like a giant gold cauldron pouring out gold liquid.

"They're using the ring's power to create living statues," Bierce said in observation before giving a scoff. "What a waste."

"You could say that again," Chuuya mumbled as he stepped through to the exit, surprised that the statues didn't bother to follow him. Not that he was complaining, of course. The less statues that follow him, the better.

He looked at the map and groaned as he realized that the shards are in the rooms furthest from him. God, he hated this nightmare with a burning passion. Still, he pressed on and went straight ahead to get to the shards, regardless of the statues now catching up to him. Thankfully, he’s made good use with the speed boost and teleportation abilities.

But that didn't stop the…

"FUCK!!!"

"AH SHIT!!"

"SON OF A BITCH!!!"

"FUCKING FUCK!!!"

"MOTHER OF--"

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"

This compilation of screaming was the result of Chuuya almost getting caught by either a trap or a statue.

Only benefit?

He'd managed to reach 99 shards.

What a nightmare…

* * *

Atsushi shifted uncomfortably as he and Kunikida sat and watched Dazai eat his canned crab slowly. Both of them were rather unsettled with the brunette's behavior, but at the same time they could understand why.

"Dazai-san," the silver haired boy said. "I brought you some water…"

Dazai stared blankly as his pupil handed him a bottle of water and took it. "Thank you, Atsushi…"

"I do hope that you're taking the president's order to heart," the blonde said, his tone surprisingly soft as well as the look the was giving his partner. "It's not like you to act this way."

The bandaged man chose to say nothing continued to eat his crab until the can was completely empty. "So you're here to babysit?" He she solemnly.

"He wants us check on you occasionally to make sure you're not doing anything reckless," Kunikida sighed.

Dazai chuckled bitterly. "I suppose I can understand that…"

He blinked when a bag was placed in front of him and looked to his partner when he smelled meat inside of it. "Canned crab isn't always the only food option," Kunikida sighed. "You should think a little more on your food choices. You wouldn't be too broke to afford other things if you didn't waste your money on bandages."

Dazai stared at his partner in shock before his eyes softened. "Thank you, Kunikida-kun…"

Kunikida simply nodded before getting up and heading to the door. "We'll be taking our leave now," he said. "Come, Atsushi."

"R-right!" Atsushi said before hastily getting up. "We'll see you soon, Dazai-san!"

With that, the two left, leaving Dazai alone with his thoughts. The bandaged looked at the bag, and he had to admit that whatever was inside smelled mouthwatering. He really appreciated his partner doing this much for him.

With that, he reached for the bag, determined not to let it go to waste.

* * *

25 shards left. And they were all so damn far away. All thanks to those stupid statues. "Damn gold fuckers…."

He was in one of the large living spaces of the mansion, keeping said statues in his line of vision so they would stay at a distance. He needed to take a breather before continuing, because this was the worst nightmare he had ever been in!

He closed his eyes for a moment, and the second he heard footsteps, he opened them again… But this time he wasn’t in the mansion.

Chuuya swiftly sat up on the floor, the couch having disappeared, and looked around in shock. He was in some sort of Japanese palace! At least, that;s what he assumed this place was by the looks of the room with the wooden floors and the sliding doors. He slowly stood up as he took in his surroundings and flinched when he heard whispering and the sliding doors opened to reveal three dogs coming in. Their ears and tails flared about like flames, leaving the petite mafia executive astonished.

_‘Inugami…’_

He turned to watch them head towards the same man he encountered from the last memory he saw back at the garden, who was now sitting out on the balcony and looked at the night sky. Chuuya got a little closer, not thinking of being quiet since this was a memory and nobody could see him.

The ginger continued to get closer to the man, who didn’t make any move to turn around as the inugami sat beside him and it was the only time the man did move as he shifted his position to pet them. What Chuuya saw made his heart stop.

The symbol on the man’s back…

It was the same as…

“Arahabaki…”

The vision suddenly vanished and he suddenly found himself in a room that had four sets of spike traps in the corners like a square. And on top of them? Four sets of shards on each square.

…….

“You’re shitting me right…?”

Chuuya looked at the tablet and it confirmed that the shards were indeed placed in these positions and groaned. “Oh, fuck me…” He looked at the traps as they spiked up and returned beneath the surface in seconds. He needed to have better timing if he didn’t want to be killed by getting stabbed by spikes.

As soon as the spikes returned beneath the surface, he swiftly used his speed boost to grab the first set of shards and then get to safety before the spikes could get him. He did this the second and third time. When it was time for the fourth attempt, he heard footsteps and he swiftly got the final set of shards, but when he stopped as he saw the statue, he felt a spike brush against the back of his pants and he froze.

His body turned completely white.

_That spike almost got him up the ass…_

He fell to his knees and his eyebrow twitched, body completely shaken. He needed a few minutes to recover from that.

Maybe more…

* * *

Bierce had her hand on her mouth as she tried not to laugh at her guest’s experience of almost being spiked in the ass. It was quite entertaining, despite the fact that it almost killed him.

She was pulled away from her amusement when she noticed that the cage started getting bigger and bigger, and what she saw inside it made her eyes widen.

“Well… This is interesting…”

* * *

“10… 9… 8…”

Almost there! He just needed to the ones stuck in corners of the loops. How the hell he missed those is a mystery, but he’s glad he didn’t miss them this time! He ran away from the statues and went straight for the direction of the shards. They were pretty far, but he wouldn’t give up. He’s come too close!

He grinned when he found four more and grabbed them. “7… 6… 5… 4…” He yelped when a statue swung an axe at him, and he was barely able to dodge him. “When did they get an axe!?” he yelled, but continued to get the rest of the shards. He was almost there. Just a little more!

“3… 2… Son of a bitch, where’s the last one!?”

He started to panic a little as he frantically searched through the tablet for the last shard. When he found the location, he immediately sprinted off to get to it. He heard footsteps on the side, but he didn’t care. He _needed_ to get that shard!

After a few turns and having to dodge some traps, he finally caught the last shard. “Yes!”

“That’s the last shard,” Bierce said. “Now get to the ring piece, while you still can.”

Chuuya followed the green light on the tablet to get out of the maze, being sure not to go to the rooms that had the traps within them. He made his way to the entrance area and saw statues, who have now become a dark turquoise and had red eyes, surrounding it. Shit, these statues were in a frenzy! With a look of determination, he ran straight for the statues and used teleportation to get passed them and open up the orb of the statue to get the ring piece.

“Yes! Eat shit!!” He yelled in glee.

His victory was short lived as the mansion was rumbling.

“This nightmare is collapsing,” the old woman said. “You need to get to the portal.”

“No need to tell me twice,” he said before making his way to the door and busting it open. His blue eyes widened as the mansion was started to crumble. “Holy shit, it really is collapsing,” he mumbled before rushing down the steps to get to the gets to the hedge maze. “What the hell!!” He yelled as he tried to yank the gates open, to no avail. He looked from side to side before running to his right. Made a turn to the left and he ran as fast as he could until he saw another set of gates and managed to open them up.

_“There’s no escape for you, mortal!”_

“Ah, fuck, not you again!!” Chuuya yelled as he used speed boost to run from the phantom Malak.

He ran straight for the gate, and used teleportation to dodge a statue to open them up. The ginger yelped as he ducked when another statue tried to make a grab for him and ran as fast as he could and pushed open the last gate. As he ran down the steps, he saw through the fog that a bunch of statues were surrounding the portal. "Oh come on!" Nevertheless, he ran towards them and used teleportation to get through the portal and land right inside the ballroom.

Chuuya gasped and slowly walked over to the altar to fall on his bum and lean against it, taking several deep breaths as he did so. God, that nightmare took a lot of his energy. He took his hat off to fan his face as he took several deep breaths. He paused when he heard the old woman laughing and glared at her.

"What's so damn funny!?" He demanded.

Bierce gave an amused smile. "I didn't think you'd make it this far, love, I really didn't," she said. "Who knows? You might just go all the way."

He blinked at this before grinning. "Well, yeah, I'm going all the way," he said, getting up from his spot at the altar. "I want to get back to the living world, and I don't intend to stop until I get all the pieces." He shifted his attention to the eye of Malak, noticing him giving a rather piercing gaze. "Oi! What's your problem?"

Malak scoffed. "If you believe her, you're _dumber_ than you look," he said. "Once she gets what she wants, _you're done_."

Bierce rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes. Trust the bloodthirsty demon. No doubt he has your best interest at heart."

Chuuya smirked in amusement before he noticed the size of the cage. "Hey, Bierce, why is the cage--" his voice caught in his throat as his eyes widened in shock.

Inside was the same beast he had seen before. Fur as black as the void beneath the ballroom, and eyes as bright as fire. What really caught his attention was the red wisps its body. The same ones that would appear on Chuuya whenever he used _Corruption._

_"Arahabaki?"_

The beast had its full attention on him from within the red cage. Chuuya knew without a doubt that this was the God that has been sleeping within him since he was a child. The executive took a few slow steps toward the god, and it made no move of hostility towards him the closer he got to the cage. Matter of fact, Arahabaki seemed surprisingly more docile than he expected. Taking a gulp of saliva once he was in front of the cage, Chuuya reached his shaking have out to the beast and closed his eyes, preparing for his hand to be either bitten off or…

He felt a nose press against the palm of his hand and he opened his eyes to stare at Arahabaki in astonishment. The god had its own eyes closed, and it opened them again to stare back at its vessel.

"He recognizes you," Bierce said.

Chuuya reached out with his other hand to pet the beast's muzzle, and Arahabaki leaned into his touch. The memories he saw started making sense now. Those weren't his memories. They were Arahabaki's.

"Don't worry, Arahabaki," he mumbled. "I promise I'll get us both out of this mess."

Arahabaki hummed and laid down upon his stomach. Chuuya took the ring piece and placed it at the altar.

"Six pieces left," the old woman said. "Ready to try again?"

The ginger nodded before the next portal was opened. As he took a step toward the portal, he glanced back at the beast with eyes filled with warmth before stepping through.

* * *

Dazai stared up at the ceiling in the middle of the night. His mind kept wandering to Chuuya all night, and he really couldn't get much sleep, despite everyone else telling him to rest.

He lifted his hand to look at a lock off hair that he snipped off of Chuuya long ago and he held it close to his heart.

"I'll find you Chuuya…. I promise…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the compilation of Chuuya swearing throughout this whole chapter is based off the many rage moments that many players have had in this level. I laughed my ass off most of the time, but I'm pretty sure I would feel the same way.
> 
> And what's this? Chuuya can see Arahabaki's memories? How can this be!?
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading! I'll see you all next chapter!


	5. Retribution pt 1 - Stranger Sewers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Chuuya enters the fourth nightmare, he comes to understand just how serious Malak really is and wonders if he can really trust Bierce.
> 
> Meanwhile, Dazai learns the name of the man who took Chuuya's body, and must get information from an outside source.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 800 hits.
> 
> ..........
> 
> I am amazed. You all took the to read this and I am amazed. Thank you all so much!
> 
> Without further ado! Here's chapter 5!

_“Six pieces left. Ready to try again?”_

Chuuya gaped at the stone wall with a duck on an “x”.

“Malak’s blocked the entrance,” Bierce observed with distaste. “Now that’s just pathetic, don’t you think?”

“You kidding?” the ginger responded, glaring at the wall and then giving it a spiteful kick. “This is beyond pathetic! A wall? Seriously!?”

Bierce gave a calm smile. “Never fear, love. There’s a solution.”

“A solution?” has asked skeptically.

“Yes. We’ll just need to... _rearrange_ your brain a bit. Go to the ring altar.”

Chuuya honest to god did not like the sound of that, and it was obvious by the way he grimaced and went back to the ballroom and walked towards the altar. He placed his hand on the statue and looked at the old woman.

“Now hold still,” she instructed. “You might also want to close your eyes. It keeps them from popping out.”

“Why did I have a feeling you would say something like that?” he groaned, but closed his eyes anyway.

When he did that, a sharp pain struck through his skull and he grunted with his teeth grit. It was gone in a flash, but the ginger held his head in pain. “Oh, god, my head!”

“I probably should’ve mentioned that you might get a headache after that,” Bierce said thoughtfully.

“Oh, you think!?” he growled with a sharp glare.

The old woman just smiled as Chuuya went back through the portal, massaging his temples to ease the pain. He gave the wall a look as the pain started to fade a little bit until it was gone. Did Bierce give him an ability that was focused on the mind or something? Was that why his head hurt? That had to be it, right? He stared at the wall for a few moments before closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. He reached out to the new ability and opened his eyes, blue orbs being replaced by red ones as the ability made his eyes change color as it activated.

He saw a monkey scream and run away right through the wall.

“Telepathy, huh?”

He flinched as the stone wall opened up and revealed the entrance to the nightmare. “I always wondered what telepathy was like,” he mumbled before walking forward.

“Just don’t let me catch you trying to see through anything besides walls.”

“Oi! The hell are you implying! I’m not some peeping creep!”

With that, Chuuya stepped through the entrance, entering the awaiting nightmare.

* * *

Dazai sat on the tatami mat of his home, hands clasped together and his brows furrowed in deep thought. As instructed, he had gotten plenty of rest and even ate. He was starting to look healthy again, the bags under his eyes seeming to fade away thanks to this. This also gave him time to figure where exactly Chuuya’s body had been taken to. He couldn’t forget the face of the man who had stolen Chuuya.

“Brown three piece suit… blonde hair… green eyes… still taller than Chuuya… Clearly a westerner if his accent was anything to go by…”

He heard a knock on his door, and assumed that it was Kunikida and Atsushi coming to check on him again. Dazai got up from his spot on the tatami mat before walking to his door and opening it up.

“Morning, gentlemen!” he greeted, faking a pleasant smile.

“I see that you’re doing better,” Kunikida said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “The president will be happy to hear that you’re finally putting your health into consideration.”

“We brought some food, too,” Atsushi said, holding a bag up. “Beef bowl noodles. Kunikida-san said it’s more filling than canned crab.”

“Ah, thank you very much!” the brunette said, taking the bag. “I knew Kunikida-kun loved me~”

“Your unhealthy habits just disrupt my schedule,” the blonde said. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“You love me deep down~”

“Tch!”

The silver haired boy looked behind Dazai and saw a lock of orange hair on the nightstand. “Um, Dazai-san, why do you have a lock of hair in your place?” he asked curiously.

Dazai zipped towards the lock of hair and quickly stuffed it in his pocket. “What are you talking about, Atsushi-kun?” he asked. “I don’t have a lock of hair.”

“But--”

“I said I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Atsushi blinked at the tight smile on Dazai's lips, but simply nodded and left it alone.

"You should be coming back to work tomorrow," Kunikida said seriously. "I don't want to deal with any nonsense just because you're healthy again."

"Of course!" Dazai said. "I wouldn't want to disappoint you!"

"Good," the blonde said. "Well, we'll go ahead and leave you to your devices."

Atsushi nodded before following Kunikida out. Dazai waved to both of them before closing his door. He went to his table and pulled out the beef bowl, prayed for the food, and then began to eat. As he ate, he started to return to his thoughts of the man who took Chuuya.

 _'He looks like an ability user, but appearing out of nowhere can't be it,'_ he thought to himself. _'There's probably more to this man than expected.'_ He remembered how his spine shivered because the aura that he carried, despite having a _friendly_ smile, felt so… _demonic._

And that was really something, considering that years ago Dazai was known as the Demon Prodigy in the Port Mafia. He tried to remember if he ever encountered such an before, but sadly he was completely lost.

"Perhaps Ranpo can help me with this…"

* * *

Chuuya blinked several times. This had to be a joke. He wasn’t in the sewers, was he? One whiff of that awful smell was enough to convince that this was indeed the sewers. He grimaced and looked down in dismay as he felt the sewer water that he was standing in slip into his shoes.

“Not afraid of a little sewer water, are you?” Bierce teased.

“Of course not! It’s just…” he groaned. “Damnit, these are my good shoes!”

“Well, I can’t keep the sewer water from slipping into your shoes. But I can tell you this. Just don’t get any of it in your mouth.”

That was the least of his problems. With a sigh, and a little moment of mourning for the ruination of his shoes, Chuuya walked forward to the tunnel that lead to the other side. No point in complaining. If this was where he was going to get the next ring piece, then he’ll just have to deal with it. He looked around as he went through the hole to see a door blocking the other side.

“You heard the urban legends I’m sure,” the old woman suddenly said.

“Urban legends such as?”

“All kinds of things get flushed down here. Alligators. Goldfish. _Duckies._ ”

Upon the word “duckies”, a light flashed on to reveal a line of giant ducks with cones on top of the heads behind bars, causing the ginger to flinch. Blue eyes blinked several times as he examined the ducks behind bars, stepping a little closer. "Ducks? I'm going to be facing ducks…?" Ducks didn’t even look cute either, what with that weird black tears running from their eyes.

He gave a sigh before deciding to just press on and head straight for the door. He placed his palm upon it and it opened up slowly. As it opened, the ginger was hit with the foul smell of sewer water and he covered his mouth as he gagged. “Ugh!! Shit!! That’s foul!!” he groaned as he nearly threw up. And it seems he wasn’t the only one who was affected by the smell.

“Mmm… this sewer smells very… _ripe,_ ” Bierce gagged. “Ugh… I think I just threw up in my mouth a little…”

“You and me both,” Chuuya breathed as he leaned onto his knees and tried not to puke, his face practically turning green. He waited for a few moments to let the smell pass, doing his best not to throw up. If he threw up, God only knows how long it would take to recover.

After a few moments, the smell finally passed, and Chuuya was able to stop gagging. He took a few deep breaths before standing straight. He he looked on the side and saw the writing on the wall. 

_Stay dry! Sewer water slows everything!_

"Good to know…" He looked forward and saw one of those webbing barriers and cracked his knuckles. "Too easy." He activated speed boost busted through the barrier, but quickly stopped when he saw a large hole on the wall.

"Well, that's interesting," Bierce said.

"Well, if you think a hole is interesting," he mumbled. There's a message next to it and he reads, "Watch out for the big one…" After reading it, he simply shrugged and thought nothing of it before walking towards the door. He pressed his hand on it, but it wasn't opening. "Dammit! Don't tell me this thing is locked!"

The ginger sighed before he heard strange growling. "Hm?" He turned to his right to see red eyes within the darkness of the hole before an elastic hand shot out and grabbed him. "Ah shit!!!" Chuuya yelled as he struggled while the hand started to slowly drag him forward. He tried to dig his heels into the ground to prevent himself from moving any further, but the hand was monstrously strong. The ginger had to struggle harder, and the harder he struggled the more loose the grip of the hand became. “Let… go of… me!!!” After a few more twists of his upper body, Chuuya managed to break free from the hand and fell on the water as whatever grabbed him laughed until it vanished.

Chuuya grimaced as he was now wet from the murky sewer water. “Great. Just fucking perfect,” he grumbled.

“It’s unlocked,” the old woman said.

“Why didn’t you unlock it before!?”

The petite mafia executive sighed and reached his now wet gloved hand up to hold onto his hat. But when he touched the top of his head, it wasn’t there. Chuuya reached his other hand up and ruffled through his orange locks to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. “What the fuck? Where’s my hat!?” He tried to recall how he lost his hat, but felt even more dread just thinking about it. But then it hit him. When he broke free and fell, his hat must’ve fallen off and the hand grabbed it and pulled it back.

...

That monster stole his hat…Seething in pure rage, Chuuya leaped up and zipped to the hole. 

“YOU FUCKING TWAT!!! GIVE ME BACK MY HAT!!!” 

Steam puffed out from his head as he glared inside the hole. How _dare_ that monster think it could steal his hat and get away with it!

"I don't think this is the time to be making demands for your hat back," Bierce said. "The soul shards take priority."

Chuuya seethed in anger a little more before jumping away from the hole and stomping away from it, the water splashing beneath his feet as he did. He entered some strange sewage room, looking up to see a large fan moving slowly, taking note that the lighting was very dim and then looking both ways to see a couple of doors. Which to choose… He pulled out the tablet and saw ne needed to get 310 soul shards. "Might as well go left," he said before going to the door on his left.

The corridor wasn't that long, thankfully, and Chuuya pressed onto the door and it slowly opened up. "Man, these doors sure like to take their time huh?" He mumbled. Once it was all the way open, he walked forward and grabbed a couple of shards before turning right and seeing another door and opening it. The petite executive looked as he saw ducks scattered about the new maze he had just entered.

“Trying to blend in, eh?” Bierce said with a grin. “Lets see if you can pay attention to details.”

“...” Chuuya couldn’t really respond to that as he slowly walked forward to get a little close to the ducks.

So far, nothing has happened and he just grabbed the shard from the duck closest to it. Even after that, nothing happened. "And I thought I had to worry about these guys," he scoffed. With that, he went left and gathered some more shards.

He passed by the large metal doors that he saw until he was at the very end, seeing that there was more than one path to follow. He should figure out which one to go through once he gather all of shards in the room. Ugh, he couldn’t get over how bad the sewer smells. Of all places, why did it have to be the sewers!?

Once all the shards were gathered, he debated on which door to pass through. He had a hard time deciding, but eventually he took the route that had the most shards. So far, he made it to 290 soul shards without running into much trouble, until he took one shard and one of the ducks closest to him suddenly sprouted legs.

“Holy shit!” Chuuya yelled before dodging a projectile that the duck shot at him with. He used the speed boost but he felt stuck to the ground when he tried to run. "What the hell!?"

Eventually he was able to start running faster when the duck started getting closer. He started to think of the message he saw earlier on the way. “Damnit, sewer water really does slow you down,” he mumbled as he kept running.

This will be a rather interesting nightmare…

* * *

Ambrose hummed as he read his book and Pale continued to pet Chuuya’s hair.

“Does the boy’s hair fascinate you, dear friend?” the blonde asked.

“... You know, I find it rather intriguing how many people look like they are sleeping rather than being dead,” Pale said, dodging the question. “Makes you wonder when they might just wake up.”

“The dead aren’t capable of that, Pale, you know that.”

“But you hope that it will happen soon with this boy.”

“Ah, you know me so well~”

Both of them fell silent for a good while before the masked man looked at him. “You think he’ll help set her free, don’t you?”

Ambrose fell silent as that and then closed his book. "What will happen will be up to her once he gets all the pieces of the Riddle of Heaven," he said.

Pale didn't respond and simply continued to pet Chuuya's hair.

* * *

“Careful now…”

Chuuya was hiding on a dry corner as he searched for signs of those ducks attempting to so much move while he was at a good distance from them. When he found none, he slowly stepped back into the water and carefully kept an eye on the ducks. When he got closer to a shard, he glanced to the side and saw the writing on the wall.

_Pay attention! Not everything is as it seems!_

He got the ‘not everything is as it seems’, but ‘pay attention’? Bierce’s words came to mind.

_“Trying to blend in, eh? Let's see if you can pay attention to details.”_

“Not everything is as it seems…”

Chuuya took a deep breath before using telepathy, and saw red aura surrounding the ducks in the room. He could even see where the ducks will be from a distance! With this, he diligently came up with a strategy. He’ll gather the shards that aren’t close to any of those demon ducks, and then come back for the ones that _are_ close to them later. He looked at the tablet having already gotten 245 shards during his time in this nightmare.

“I hope this works,” he mumbled before grabbing the closest shard and then turning back.

Thankfully, he was able to grab all the shards where there weren’t any demon ducks around. But when it came to the demon ducks, when they gave chase, he was thankfully able to use teleportation first before using the speed boost so that he could have some kind of advantage. His main issue was the doors. The fucking things were too damn slow to open, so he’s been having to crawl under just to get to the other side. Useless things…

Chuuya slowly walked towards a shard as he used telepathy to spy a duck right next to the shard, reaching his hand out to grab it as he got closer. It wouldn’t be good to get the shard in a rush. It’d give the duck an advantage over him since the damn sewer water slows him down. He was glad that whoever came here before him was helpful enough to write messages on the wall. He wasn’t sure if whoever wrote them ever made it past this place or not, but he could only hope that they had. The ginger swiftly grabbed the shard and turned to run just as the duck sprung up, but he wasn’t quick enough to evade the extension from the duck’s mouth.

“Fuck!!” he yelled as he began to struggle. He glared at the duck before swiftly kicking the extension and breaking it. The duck squealed in what looked like pain, which confused him considering that the thing was mechanical. However, he decided to ignore it and started running away from it to get a good distance as it gave chase. “Oh shit!!” Chuuya yelled as another one sprang up. Thankfully, he used teleportation to evade the extension of that duck and used his speed boost.

He would’ve gotten more shards if he went another way, but he had to get away from these bastards because two of them were chasing him now, and he needed to focus on surviving for a moment. The petite executive gave a sigh of relief when he found they were no longer following him after he found himself in one of those rooms, but as he walked to the other side, he jumped back with a yelp as some spikes shot up.

“Great! There are traps here too!?” he shouted.

He quickly teleported over the spikes and went to the other side to get to the door. Chuuya quickly touched it and patiently waited for it to open. As it opened up slowly, something crossed Chuuya’s mind.

“Hey, Bierce, can I ask you something?” he asked.

“Go on,” Bierce said.

“Did a man by the name of Sakunosuke Oda ever come to Purgatory?”

The old woman hummed in thought. “Yes, I do believe he did,” she said. “Although, unlike you, he accepted his death and took the suffering quite diligently.”

“Did he ever make it to Heaven?”

“A man like that? Well, of course he made it to Heaven. Why are you even asking me this?”

Chuuya gave a small grin. “Just something to tell Dazai once I get back…”

* * *

The day to go back to work had finally come. Dazai made sure to be there earlier than he usually was at work, and he immediately went to Ranpo’s desk.

“You want me to find out who took Chuuya’s body, right?” Ranpo asked before Dazai could, having already figured that he would come ask him eventually.

The brunette nodded to him. “I have a description I wrote down in this notebook,” he said. “Will that be enough?”

“It should be,” the detective said before he was handed a blue notebook. “Blue to match his eyes, right?”

Dazai only nodded. He didn’t need to ask Ranpo what he meant, because the detective was smart enough to figure out who’s eyes this color reminded him of. The detective opened the notebook up and put on his glasses to activate his ability. He looked at the description that Dazai wrote down before frowning.

“The person who took Chuuya is someone who vanished from this world a long time ago,” Ranpo explained. “His name is Ambrose Bierce.”

“Ambrose Bierce?” Dazai asked in confusion.

“He was an ability user back in America who disappeared for unknown reasons,” the detective explained. “Nobody knows what happened to him, but rumors about him being agnostic spread around. But those were merely rumors. It wasn’t exactly proven true.”

“Do you know what his ability was?”

“His ability was called _The Devil’s Dictionary._ What it did, I really can’t say, since it’s been decades since he disappeared from the face of the Earth. Nobody could ever find a trace of him anywhere, so naturally they all thought he was deceased.”

“But if he’s alive…”

Both men fell silent before the detective leaned back in his chair. “Hey, Ed!”

Poe looked from behind the door.

“You think you can ask one of your pals in America to pull up any files on the ‘Ambrose Bierce Disappearance’ case?”

Poe blinked at that. “That case has been cold for decades,” he said. “Why would you need it?”

“Because we need to look at it to find somebody.”

“... I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll try.”

Dazai gave a grateful look to Ranpo, who merely waved it off.

_Don’t worry, Chuuya, I’m coming for you._

* * *

“And… got it,” Chuuya said as he snatched up the last shard in the zone.

“You’ve gathered half of the shards,” Bierce said. “Try to live long enough to get the rest.”

The ginger rolled his eyes before making his way to the path of the next zone. He briefly remember seeing a door being sealed up by some sort of purple barrier, so that had to be the entry to the next zone. He was able to memorize the path he took when he last saw it, and when he got to it, the barrier was gone. This enabled him to have access to the other side. As it opened up, he saw an eerie red light had started to appear before he was met with a large room with six sets of pillars, and piles of ducks forming a circle against the walls.

“Okay…” Chuuya mumbled and stepped around the spikes before spotting the ring barrier. “There you are.”

He walked across the room and passed the pillars before the whole place started rumbling, forcing him to stop in shock and slight fear. The ginger flinched when he heard something roar before it stopped.

“I’m sure that rumbling is nothing to be concerned about,” the old woman piped up.

“ _Nothing_ to be _concerned_ about?” he said in disbelief. “I know for a fucking fact that you heard that roar, you old hag! Don’t give me that ‘ _it’s nothing to be concerned about’_ bullshit!”

“Just shut up and get the shards,” Bierce scoffed. “And you ought to know how to respect your elders.”

“I know how to respect my elders!”

Chuuya eventually decided to just be done with the argument and stepped around some spikes to get to the door on the other side of the red room. He opened it up and then crossed the other room, which was far more dimly lit than the previous zone, and was that dried blood on the ground? The ginger grimaced before continuing forward and opening up the door. These parts of the sewers, as he noticed when the door was fully open, were much darker than in the first zone. He quietly stepped inside and looked around.

“They’re hiding,” Bierce whispered. “In the shadows.”

Chuuya narrowed his blue eyes before he used telepathy to see which duck was real and which wasn’t. This room was clear so far, but he should open up the doors first before trying to grab any shards. Thankfully, the task was quite easy and he looked at the tablet to see he had 191 shards to go. “Okay, let's get the shards here first,” he mumbled. He quickly got the shards in the room before taking a different path.

Something was bothering him. The whole time he was here, he hadn’t seen any important memory of his past. Well, he didn’t exactly remember ever going to the sewers because _come on,_ who in their right mind would want to go into the sewers!?

Chuuya stopped as he started to hear crying and he turned to see his seven year old self again. Ah… He’d completely forgotten about this. He had been in the sewers before, when he was hiding from a group of military men that started looking for him. The ginger’s heart clenched as he watched his childhood self cry; feeling lost, scared and alone, not knowing what to do. He went over to his younger self and knelt down in front of him so he could reach out and brush his hand through his younger self’s hair. Unfortunately, he was reminded that this was only a memory as his fingers went through the boy, and it hurt Chuuya even more.

But then he saw something start to surround his younger self. A giant veil of shadows wrapped themselves around the seven year-old Chuuya, but he didn’t seem to notice. The older Chuuya was confused until the shadows started to taking Arahabaki’s form. Blue eyes began to soften as he saw the god wrap himself around his childhood self, and the younger Chuuya eventually stopped his crying as he felt something wrap itself around him in comfort. The ginger’s vision began to blur from unshed tears before the memory vanished, making him rub at his eyes to wipe away his tears. Arahabaki had been there for him in his tough times, and he never even realized it because the god was always so busy sleeping whenever he didn’t activate _Corruption._ It amazed him how soft and docile the beast was, because it was as if the god’s only intention was to shield Chuuya’s younger self from the pain of the cold, cruel world. And back in the ballroom, Arahabaki immediately knew who he was and accepted a little bit of affection.

“You’re not going to cry, are you, love?” Bierce asked. “You’ve done plenty of that before.”

“I’m surprised you decided to bring it up _now_ of all times,” Chuuya grumbled before he continued onward.

“I may seem unpleasant, but I might as well calm your nerves a bit,” the old woman said. “Why don’t I tell you a little bit about myself?”

The ginger raised an eyebrow. “You’re willing to do that? For someone who’s doing chores for you?”

“Well, considering the trouble you’ve gone through, and that we probably won’t be seeing each other again after you’ve gathered all the pieces, I might as well,” Bierce said with a grin.

Chuuya thought about it for a moment before walking forward. “Okay, spill.”

The whole time Chuuya searched for soul shards in the second zone, Bierce told him her life story. He came to learn that her full name was Helen Bierce, and she was an actress back in America in the 1930’s, famous for her nickname the She-Devil of the Silver screen. Her husband was a corrupt producer and she had only gone to Los Angeles to make it big in Hollywood. Despite her fame, she wasn’t really that well recommended for certain movies.

He even learned that she obtained power from someone named Victor, and she had signed a contract with the devil in order for her to finally rise up in stardom. Chuuya was half tempted to ask what it was that Bierce had to give up, but feeling that it was too personal, he didn’t say anything. Just listened to her story, and collected the shards.

“Your story is pretty interesting,” he said.

"I will take that compliment to heart, love," Bierce said with a smile.

Chuuya chuckled at that before checking the tablet. Only 126 shards left. This was good. And he didn’t even run into any of the ducks while he listened to the old woman’s story either. Thank god for that as well. He pushed onto the door and waited as it slowly opened up to probably one of the largest parts of the sewer second to the red room, scrunching his face up from the horrible smell that hit him. Ugh, this shit was nasty!

“You might want to take a shower after this,” Bierce said in distaste.

“Trust me, I plan to,” he mumbled. He looked to see that the light in the middle was much brighter and two pillars sat on each side, as well as three sets of ducks. He used telepathy, and thankfully saw that there was only one duck inhabiting this part. He could work with that.

The ginger took to the right and gathered three shards on one side, being mindful of the spikes. Why did there have to be spikes here too!? By the time he got three of the shards, he saw the same red eyes in the darkness behind those sewage bars. Wait a minute, this was the same shithead who stole his hat.

"There you are, you asshole!!" He screamed as he gripped the bars. "Give me back my hat!!"

Bierce sighed as steam puffed up out of Chuuya’s head. “I told you, it’s not a good time to make demands for your hat back,” she said.

Chuuya glared at the red eyes before pulling back and going to get the other shards. “Don’t think that this is over, you freak,” he grumbled at the red eyes that seemed to be mocking him.

He was very mindful of the duck that was waiting for, as he tiptoed a bit to get the shard before breaking into a sprint as it woke up. He teleported out of the area before using his speed boost to get out. Chuuya smirked as the duck couldn’t keep up with him and he was able to get away from it.

He looked at the tablet and saw he had 120 shards left.

“You know, love, you’re story is pretty interesting as well,” Bierce said suddenly.

“What do you mean?” Chuuya asked. “I haven’t even told you my story.”

“Didn’t I tell you before? I know everything you’ve got hidden in that brain of yours. That includes your memories. Trapped in a facility, and then becoming a vessel to a god of calamity. Then there’s the so called Sheep, and then the Port Mafia. Your life must’ve been really exciting.”

The ginger said nothing before continuing onward. He knew the old lady was nosy. It was only a matter of time before she said something about his past.

“You never said that these nightmares would show me my memories…” he said. “Does that mean… I might get the memories I lost back?”

Bierce gave a thoughtful hum. “It’s possible that you can,” she said. “After all, you saw Arahabaki’s memories.”

Chuuya grinned at that. Perhaps he can finally figure out who he truly is after all…

* * *

At the hour of Midnight in America, the telephone rang inside the living area of a small house. A groan was heard from the couch, and a dainty hand reached out and grabbed the phone to be placed by the ear of a brown haired woman.

“What…?” she groaned in the phone.

“Rozan?”

Hazel eyes fluttered open tiredly as she recognized the voice on the other line. “Poe…?” she asked tiredly. “What the hell? It’s the middle of the night!”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Poe said apologetically. “But there’s something important I need from you, since you have a respected position in your base.”

Rozan sighed before sitting up from her position on the couch. “This better be important since you know it’s midnight in America and noon in Japan,” she grumbled. “What do you want?”

“Do you think you can pull up the case file of the ‘Ambrose Bierce Disappearance’?”

She blinked at this request. “Huh? That case has been cold for years,” she said. “What do you want it for?”

“A friend of mine who’s from Japan needs it,” Poe answered seriously.

“Poe, I can’t just give a cold case file to someone outside of our country,” Rozan said seriously. “That’s confidential information, and it certainly doesn’t require the concerns of a foreigner. Did you forget that after you joined the Guild?”

“You seriously think I don’t know that? Yes, it’s confidential information not needed to be seen by a foreigner, but it’s important because--”

“What is so important that a foreigner needs to look at it, Poe!?”

Poe gulped a bit before speaking. “Because… the friend that needs the file saw him…”

Rozan’s eyes widened. “What...?”

“I know, it sounds ridiculous since it’s been decades since anyone has last seen Ambrose Bierce,” Poe sighed. “But my friend saw him. He wouldn’t lie.”

“How the hell do you know that?” she demanded.

“Because he’s a coworker of Ranpo Edogawa.”

Rozan choked on air at hearing that bit of information. “Ranpo Edogawa!? I thought you hated him!”

Poe shifted nervously. “We… kind of formed a friendly rivalry…”

Rozan blinked before sighing. “Are you sure it really was Ambrose Bierce?” she asked.

“Ranpo’s ability allows him to see the truth,” he explained. “If he says it’s Ambrose Bierce, then he’s right.”

“... Alright, fine, but I can’t guarantee I can get that case file.”

Poe grinned. “Thank you, Rozan.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rozan said before hanging up.

* * *

Chuuya sat on the dry edge as he looked over the tablet. 20 shards to go. His blue eyes glimmered with hope. He was nearly finished with this nightmare. Perhaps he can ask Bierce if there was a shower in Purgatory, because he was certainly going to need one after this. He briefly looked to the side and saw a crowbar laying beside him on the dry concrete. 

“Not as good as my knife, but it will definitely come in handy,” the ginger said with a grin before reaching over and grabbing the crowbar. He’s never fought with a crowbar before, but he’ll put this thing to good use.

Deciding that he’s had enough rest, Chuuya sat up from his spot on the dry concrete and started moving forward to find more shards. He used telepathy in order to avoid certain paths that had the most ducks, and he was successful with that part. The most difficult part was taking shards that happened to be close to a demon duck. Thankfully, he had a crowbar in hand, so dealing with those things wasn’t much of an issue as it had been the first time.

He had gone down to 15 shards when one of the ducks had put up more of a fight than the others.

Chuuya slowly crept up towards the shard that was close to a real duck, and the minute he grabbed it, the duck sprang up and he barely dodged that latch that out of its mouth to grab him. “Looks like you’ve been waiting,” he commented as the latch kept coming after him and he kept having to dodge. When it finally grabbed him, it dragged him towards the duck, intending to devour him in the process. Like hell he was going to be eaten by a demon duck!

He used the crowbar to block the teeth before it could even attempt to swallow him up, and he kicked the spring to the latch off in order for the duck to release him. Instead of squealing in pain like the last ones, the duck cornered him when he landed on his back and his head ended up in the water, and made a squeaking noise in an attempt to laugh before raising its foot. Chuuya’s eyes widened at realizing this thing was going to crush his head, and moved when the duck stomped down.

_‘Holy shit!! This thing is trying to crush my fucking skull!’_

The ginger panicked as he moves out of the way every time the duck stomped down with each foot. He had to stick his head up for a short time to breathe, but the damn monster made it difficult to get a full second of breathing. It went on for a few seconds until the duck finally stomped down and Chuuya’s body went still. When he made no sign of movement, the duck started laughing in triumph.

However, it failed to realize the water was too murky to see that his head was turned the other way and he opened his eyes when he realized the duck’s guard was down. With grace, he gripped the crowbar in his hand and stabbed the ducks left leg with the sharp edge, breaking it in the process. The duck squealed as it collapsed and fell into the water, struggling to get up with just one leg. It stopped when Chuuya got up from his position and looked into its eyes before stabbing the crowbar into its head.

The ginger panted as the machine laid dead in the sewer water.

“Very well done,” Bierce said. “People don’t usually play dead to fool the enemy.”

"When you're in the mafia, you learn a few tricks," Chuuya said with a smirk. "Now time to get the rest of those shards."

Using both the enemy detecting shard and the stun orb, Chuuya managed to get 20 shards that were lined up in one line. “Yes!” he yelled as he grabbed the last shard.

“That’s the last shard, now get to the ring piece,” Bierce instructed.

Chuuya nodded before taking off to the red room.

“You can’t speed boost your way out of death this time!”

“Ah, fuck, now I gotta deal with you!?” the ginger yelled as the phantom form of Malak gave chase. The demon nearly grabbed him, but Chuuya used teleportation at the last second and then boosted up his speed to get to the red room faster. “Eat shit, asshole!”

It didn’t take long until he made it to the red room and he rushed to the barrier and opened up the orb to get the piece. “Gotcha!!” he said in victory. “Now to get to the portal.”

He turned to move but froze when Malak stood in the middle in his true form.

_“That’s far enough, mortal.”_

* * *

Ambrose perked up and waved a hand to see a hologram of Chuuya facing Malak and smiled. “Well, looks like Malak is finally putting his big boy pants on,” he said.

Pale only hummed as he pet Chuuya’s hair. “I figured he’d try and pull something sooner or later,” he said. “It’s not often that he gets this flustered over just one mortal.”

“Yes, but he’s come to realize that Chuuya Nakahara is not just any mortal,” the blonde said. “This should be a grand show.”

* * *

Both demon and human stared at one another, not moving or breathing a word. Just staring eye to ey-- erm… eye socket?

Now that Chuuya got a better look then from the second portal, Malak wore a neat black suit with black gloves. Wait, did he only have three claw-like fingers on each hand? Well, Malak was a demon, so the ginger should’ve expected that. Sweat dripped down his temple as the petite executive stared at the jack-o-lantern face of the demon, who drummed his fingers on the right side of his hip.

“You know,” Malak started, causing Chuuya to flinch, “you’re the first of Bierce’s pets to actually cause me some trouble. I should commend you for your tenacity.”

The ginger grinned a little. “Oh? That’s quite a compliment, considering the fact that you’ve failed to kill me at least three times,” he said.

Malak clicked his tongue at that. “Well, commendable as you may be, I’m afraid your little streak ends here,” he said.

“So we gonna have a good fight here instead of a chase?” Chuuya asked mockingly.

“It wouldn’t exactly interest me to waste my power on a mortal like you,” Malak said before his smile widened. “Fortunately, watching you run around _obediently_ has reminded me that _I_ have a loyal pet as well~” He gave smirk when Chuuya gave a confused look. “Here, let me introduce you, so you can both get properly acquainted.”

Chuuya looked behind the demon to see a garage door opening up. What he saw within the darkness made his blue eyes widen in horror as he saw hands moving about. Malak was amused and he fixed his red tie up.

“Now you’ll have to excuse me,” he said. “I must take my leave. Business calls elsewhere. Oh, and, Bierce…” That caused the ginger to turn his attention to the demon. “I know you’re there, peering through your little puppet. I’ll be settling matters with _you_ very soon.” With an evil chuckle, he vanished into black smoke.

Chuuya flinched when he heard the creature within the garage give a gurgling hiss. Feeling both brave and stupid, he decided to walked further towards the garage and he gaped when he saw a _giant duck_ with several arms sprouting out of its body, red eyes, a large duck bill with teeth and nails sticking out of its head.

“Now that’s a _huge_ ducky,” Bierce said.

The ginger was going to scold her for the comment when he noticed something about one of the giant duck’s nails. “Oi! That’s my hat!”

The duck only laughed before a hand shot out of its mouth and grabbed Chuuya, who grunted and struggled until the hand released him. He heard it laugh again before jumped away from the hand. After he got some distance between them, he cursed when a duck came flying at him and ducked so it would miss.

“Use the pillars to slow it down!” Bierce instructed.

“The hell is that supposed to mean!” he yelled as he dodged another duck. He briefly caught sight of the arms sinking back into the giant duck’s body and leapt away when the head shot out to take a bite out of him. “Holy shit!”

Chuuya swiftly got up and the arms emerged from the boyd and began throwing ducks at him again. Bierce bit her lip as she saw through his eyes how he had to hide behind the pillars to avoid the ducks. The ginger peeked out to see the arms sink back into the giant duck’s body again and ducked behind the pillar when the head shot out again, but he heard a crashing the process and a pained groan and saw the giant duck laying down with its head sideways. Oh, that’s what she meant! He quickly took advantage of this and rushed towards the duck to snatch his hat back. “I’ll take that!” He quickly went back behind the pillars when the giant duck recovered and started throwing ducks again.

“Damnit, how am i supposed to beat this thing!?” he growled in frustration as he was stumped on what to do. He heard a beep and looked at the tablet to see a message.

_Turn the valves._

“Valves…?” He looked to see valves in the middle of the red room. He flinched when the head crashed against the pillar he was hiding behind before rushing to the valves when the giant duck was down. He swiftly started turning one of the valves as fast as he could, wincing at the rusted squeaking noise it made as he turned it. Once he it stopped the giant duck recovered and Chuuya quickly dodged a duck being thrown at him, but slipped when one of the ducks sprang up and used its latch to try a grab him. “Oh, come on, seriously!?”

He quickly activated the speed boost and ran from the duck and avoided one being thrown at him. He caught a glimpse of the arms going inside the giant's body and swiftly got behind a pillar as it shot out its head and knocked itself out. Chuuya was quick to get to the same valve he had to turn when he saw the other duck sway around and got to turning the valve. Once he was done with that, he teleported away from the duck and dodged a flying duck. “This shit would be easier if this duck wasn’t fucking chasing me,” he growled. He managed to avoid the duck and get behind another pillar when the giant duck shot its head out and knocked into the pillar. He quickly got to the other valve and started turning it.

“You’re doing great, Chuuya,” he mumbled to himself. “Just one more turn on this baby and you’ll be outta here.”

As soon as he finished turning the valve, _another_ duck sprang up and started chasing him. “I have to deal with _two_ of you now!? Give me a fucking break!!” He had to use speed boost and teleportation avoid being hit by ducks _and_ getting caught by those stupid ducks at the same time! He couldn’t even hide behind a pillar and had to dodge the giant duck’s head. “Come on, Chuuya, think!” He backed up as the ducks slowly walked up to him to back him into a corner. He caught sight of a duck come flying at him and moved to have it hit the ducks and knock them down. The ginger then got behind a pillar and made the giant duck hit it and he rushed to start turning the valve swiftly. “Almost… Got it…”

With that, he finished turning the valve the garage door suddenly close and an alarm went off. “Yes,” he whispered when one pf the doors opened up and quickly rushed out, being careful with the spikes. He heard the door close up behind him as he ran.

“Getting back to the portal is not going to be so easy this time,” Bierce warned. “Don’t screw it up.”

“What do you mean?” he asked. He got an idea and used telepathy to see _all of the ducks_ guarding every door and groaned. “Are you serious!?”

He looked at the tablet and saw a red mark telling him here to go and rushed to the left to open up a door. When he found another one, he quickly opened it up and started following the path the red mark was telling him to go. “Okay, this should be easy,” he said, but jumped when the walls behind him crashed.

_“You’re not out yet, mortal.”_

Chuuya glanced behind him to see the giant duck coming at him and panicked.

_“Holy fuck!!”_

He used teleportation to give himself better footing before using speed boost to go faster. He saw the ducks springing up every time he got closer to each door, but they didn’t chase him and just did some sort of strange dance as the giant chased after him. He stopped when he got to the door at the end corner and opened it up. “Can’t these things go any faster!?” He peaked to see the duck getting closer before crawling under the door and continuing to run.

Chuuya didn’t bother looking back, because he really didn’t need to when he heard crashing again to know that the giant duck was still chasing after him. He didn’t even pay any mind to all the ducks that sprang up every time he passed by, and just opened up the door at the end. “Come on, come on, come on!” he said desperately as he saw the duck get closer and quickly passed through the door and hearing it close behind him, but it did nothing to stop the giant duck from crashing through it.

Malak’s pet sure was loyal alright.

When Chuuya got to the door, he quickly opened it up and waited for it to be fully open before entering the other side and groaning at the sight of another door and opening it up. He jumped when the door he first opened swiftly closed and heard a sharp bang as the giant duck hit the door, but wasn’t able to crash through. The ginger sighed with relief before entering the hall and got to the door that allowed him to come through the maze and quickly ran to another door that lead to the path of the portal. He caught sight of beady red eyes and saw a duck in front of the hole before teleporting past it.

“Hah! Now to get the fu--UUUUUCK HOLY SHIT!!” Chuuya screamed when the giant duck crashed through the side and started chomping to get to him, but he quickly jumped passed it and got through the portal.

He fell to his knees and winced at the squelching noise as he was pretty much wet with sewer water from head to toe. Bierce allowed the young man to catch his breath before offering a handkerchief to wipe his face. He took it gratefully and wiped his face before taking the ring piece out of his pocket and wiping it clean before placing it at the altar. He gave a tired laugh and brushed his dirty orange hair away from his face. He almost wanted to cry at the knowledge that he managed to survive the nightmare.”I made it,” he said tiredly.

Bierce grinned a little as the ginger slowly got up. He glanced at the door, which was staring intently at him. “What’re you looking at?”

“It vexes me _greatly_ that you’re still here, mortal,” Malak said with an irritated tone.

“Yeah? Well, tough shit, asshole,” the ginger replied.

Malak sighed and rolled his eye. “Now she has _another_ piece of that _infernal_ ring!”

Blue eyes narrowed. “What the hell is the big deal about Bierce getting a ring piece anyway?” he demanded. “Why are you so hellbent on keeping from getting them for her?”

“Every piece Bierce gets makes her more powerful,” the demon said. “Don’t you get that, meat sack? What do you think is going to happen when doesn’t need you anymore?”

Chuuya became confused and he turned to the old woman.

“He’s right,” she said. “I am getting more powerful. Powerful enough to fulfill your every wish.” She raised an eyebrow. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

The ginger looked down a little, feeling very much unsure. Yes, he wanted to go home, but what Malak said to him was a little overwhelming. “Yeah, but…”

“Bierce, why not tell him what fate befell the last person that trusted you, hmmm?”

Chuuya looked at Bierce, but she only turned away from him. Okay, that said _a lot._ But rather than worry about it, he tapped her shoulder and got her attention. “Does this place have a shower?” he asked. She blinked in surprise before pointing to another direction. “Thanks…” With that, Chuuya went to go take a shower and clean himself up.

* * *

In the dead of night, a figure in a red coat sat within the darkness of an abandoned house. The figure’s black gloved hands were busy cleaning a sword that laid upon legs wearing black pants, black high-heel combat boots kicked up on a wooden table. A dark red mask with a cheshire smile was looking up at the moon out the window.

 _“You're trying my patience here, Red?”_ a voice inside the figure’s head hissed. _“You were supposed to get Arahabaki! Not kill him!”_

“Relax,” Red said dismissively. “I’ll get your stupid god friend soon. I just need to find the vessel’s body.”

_“You don’t even know where to look! You call yourself a mercenary when you can’t even find one person!?”_

“Will you fucking chill out!?” Red yelled. “I had the fucker until that bastard Ambrose came and took him! Don’t you so called _gods_ know a thing or two about patience!?”

_“This coming a woman who kills impulsively when she’s gone impatient.”_

The masked woman only scoffed. “Just be fucking patient,” he said. “When I find the vessel, I’ll get Arahabaki and then you can get the fuck out of my head, sound good?” When she was met with silence, she nodded in satisfaction. “Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact:
> 
> Ambrose Bierce IRL was a famous author and a American civil war veteran. "The Devil's Dictionary" is one of his most famous works, which interestingly enough is a dictionary containing info on the meaning of both humorous and satirical words. He was in fact agnostic and did disappear when he went to Chihuahua, Mexico to gain experience in the Mexican Revolution.
> 
> His disappearance was in 1913 at the age of 71.
> 
> Thank you all for reading! See you next time!


	6. Retribution pt 2 - Crazy Carnevil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chuuya enters the fifth nightmare with new determination, and he won't stop until he's gotten all of the ring pieces.
> 
> Meanwhile, the people looking for his body are on their way, but who will reach him first?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! We have officially reached a new decade and with it a new chapter of The Darkness Always Deceives!
> 
> This story has gotten 96 kudos and I just want to thank you all for taking an interest in this.
> 
> So without further ado, let's face some clowns!

Chuuya took some time in the bathroom to think after _six thorough washings_ of his body, his clothes, his hat and _especially_ his shoes. He thought about what Malak had said to him and Bierce's reaction to what he said to her. What fate befell the last person who trusted her? He looked down at the tablet that had been given to him in the first nightmare.

_"It was left by the last… Guest to disappoint me here. A very clever girl. Just not a very fast runner."_

Ah, he remembered now. Bierce had already informed him of what happened to the last person who got stuck in purgatory. She didn't make it because she had been too slow of a runner despite being clever. Chuuya ran his hand over the screen of the tablet and jumped when an image popped up. He could hear panting as the camera was shaking around, and he thought he could hear the familiar sound of the monkey in the distance.

He flinched when he heard a scream as they were stabbed and the monkey squealed in delight as the tablet was dropped and the screen became black. It must've fallen to the floor facing down. Chuuya's grip on the tablet tightened as the screaming continued as whoever was in the background was being stabbed multiple times. Once the screaming was done and he heard the monkey begin to run away, he thought it was over for a moment. But he was proven wrong when the screen regain the vision of the hotel hallway. Whoever had been attacked was obviously still alive, but depending on how severe their wounds were, it wouldn't be long until they were dead. The ginger ran a hand down his face as the screen moved with every step the person took and it shook as the person probably fell to their knees when they reached the ring barrier.

Blue eyes widened when the screen was turned towards a young girl, bleeding from the mouth as she had coughed up blood when she had been attacked.

 _"If you're a person who got sent to purgatory, then that must mean you're trying to get the pieces to the ring,"_ she said to the camera weakly. _"To ensure that you can get the pieces *cough* I've altered the features of this tablet… That way, it'll be easier to find all the soul shards."_ She gave a sad smile. _"Unfortunately for me, I failed to get the first piece. Doesn't that suck? I am never getting home now…"_ Blue eyes softened as tears fell from her eyes. _"But you will go home. I've made sure of that with this tablet. Whatever you do, whoever you are, don't fail. Don't give up… Live a good life…"_ With that, the tablet was placed down on the ground the video ended.

Chuuya held tablet against his chest. The girl probably assumed that she wasn’t going to make it out, so she left this behind so that the next person could have a chance. The poor girl... Thinking that he's stalled long enough, Chuuya got up from his seat and left the washroom to get back in the ballroom.

Bierce raised an eyebrow. "Five more pieces to go, love," she said. "Care to try your luck again, or would you rather just stay here with me?"

Chuuya gave her a calm look. "I've got a few things to say first," he said before walking up the stairs to Malak. "You told Bierce to tell me what happened to the last person who tried to get the ring pieces. Well, sorry to rain on your parade, asshole, but she's already told me."

"What!?" Mask yelled in shock.

"I did?" Bierce asked, completely caught off guard.

"The last person to disappoint her was the same person who left this tablet behind," the ginger informed, showing the demon the tablet. "The fact that she left this behind proves that she had a hunch that she wasn't gonna make it. So she left this behind so that the next person who tried to gather the pieces could have at least a little bit of a chance to get out of purgatory. I'm grateful to her for that."

Chuuya narrowed his eyes. “Listen and listen good, Malak,” he said. “I don’t give a damn about your stupid tricks. You can use all your tricks all you want. But I’m going home no matter what, and you can’t fucking stop me.” He then turned to Bierce. “When I get those pieces, I have two desires. One, to go home, and two, I want a list of all the movies you’ve starred in.” Bierce became surprised and he grinned. “I want to watch them all when I get home, because I would like to see your acting. You had to have been fantastic.”

The old woman smiled. “I will keep that in mind, love,” she said.

Chuuya nodded before stepping down the stairs as another portal opened up. He grimaced when he saw the face of a clown. "Of course these guys would be here," he mumbled before stepping through. He was surprised to see one of those monkeys down the dark halls.

"Malak's left a monster to guard the entrance," Bierce said observantly. "Reeks of desperation, don't you think?"

"No worries," the ginger said, cracking his knuckles and walking toward the monkey. "I'll just give it a good old fashioned ass kicking."

He got close to the monkey, only to step back when it slashed at him with one swipe of one of its knife hands.

"Fighting it won't do anything, love," the old woman said. "You don't have a weapon on you, unlike the last nightmare."

Chuuya glared at the monkey while it stared back at him with it's beady eyes. "So what am I supposed to do then?" He asked.

Bierce grinned. "You'll just have to scare it off. Stare into its eyes, and convince it that you're the _bigger monster._ " Chuuya raised an eyebrow. "Trust me it works. Just ask my late husband."

That caused the ginger to snicker a bit before going back to the ballroom. When he walked up to the altar, he placed his hand on it and felt a rush of power before it was over in an instant. Funny. He was expecting a bit of pain. Shrugging it off, Chuuya went back through the portal and walked towards the monkey, making sure to keep a good distance between them. He took a deep breath before his eyes flashed red and struck the monkey with a red flash.

He blinked when the monkey slumped over and gave a smug grin before walking forward, glancing at the still stunned monkey..

"I can definitely get used to this power~"

* * *

Dazai sat behind his desk, his leg bouncing up and down being a sign of growing impatience. This Rozan person should be calling and giving information on the case file soon, at least that was what Poe said, but at the same time there was no guarantee that she'll provide it because she wasn't allowed to give confidential information of a case, cold or not. It had been several days since he made that phone call, and the bandaged man was getting rather impatient.

The brunette perked up when the phone rang and Poe answered it.

"Hello?... Rozan, hi…" a smile fell on his face. "You got the file? That's great!... Oh, and you're here? They actually allowed you to come here?"

Dazai raised an eyebrow and sat up straight. So this Rozan person was here in Japan?

“No! It’s not a problem! We’ll see you soon!” Poe yelled nervously before hanging up and giving a sigh. “She’s so forceful…”

“When can we expect from her?” Dazai asked.

“She should be here in a few minutes,” Poe answered. “We’re lucky that she managed to convince them to give her the case file. We’ll owe her a lot for this.”

“No big deal, so long as she brings the file,” Ranpo said.

“The closer we get to finding Chuuya, the better,” the bandaged man said firmly.

".... You really love him, don't you?"

Dazai didn’t respond, but honestly, Ranpo didn’t really need him to. In fact, when Dazai left to see Chuuya face off the masked mercenary named Red, the brunette had probably planned to confess to the ginger, and then… Dazai had returned, looking like his soul had left his body. He explained that Chuuya was killed by his own power and how it was the brunette’s fault because Red had kept him at bay before he could save the one he loved most.

“Just make sure that love doesn’t destroy you,” Ranpo said seriously. “Because I know you’re meaning to kill Red yourself after what she did.”

Dazai turned his brown eyes to his colleague with a calm look. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at, Ranpo,” he said, acting as if he didn’t know what he was talking about.

"Just take my word for it," the detective said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

The brunette simply shrugged. However, he knew exactly what the detective was talking about. Yes, he did intend to kill Red. It was her fault that Chuuya died, and once he found Chuuya, he’ll hold him close, kill Red and then join his love to the afterlife.

* * *

Chuuya blinked when he found himself outside, surrounded by posters of clowns and the noise around him being that of rides of many kinds that one would only find at a carnival.

“Ah, the circus,” Bierce sighed, feeling nostalgic. “Those were pretty popular in my day.”

“I can imagine so,” the ginger hummed. “I bet you really enjoyed it.”

“Indeed, I did. Such talent and showmanship. As a girl, the performance never failed to fill me with wonder. Watching them I wanted to become a star too… Now children just sit around and what? Watch others play video games? Huh.”

Chuuya rubbed his neck. “Well, kids gotta find some way to entertain themselves, don’t they?” he asked.

When the old woman didn’t say anything, he decided to push the doors open and walk forward. Many of the same posters were on the walls, but he didn’t take the time to look at them. He wanted to leave this nightmare as soon as possible, the red clouded sky was giving him the creeps. When he came across the festive stands, he saw games offering shards as prizes or asking for shards as payment for tickets, and even saw cotton candy. Chuuya didn’t care much for it, since he didn’t have much of a sweet tooth. He looked at the carousel and took a step forward, but yelped when a clown car zipped right passed him in a circle, causing the executive to fall on his rear.

Chuuya could’ve sworn that he saw his life flash before his eyes right then, which is pretty ironic considering that he was already dead.

“Let me guess,” Bierce said with a teasing smirk. “Coulrophobia?”

That question made him scowl before getting back up on his feet. “I am _not_ afraid of clowns, damnit!” he growled as he stomped around the carousel, flinching when the lights went on.

He didn’t see why he would be either. It was just a bunch of weirdos with a lot of makeup and stupid clothes on. Then again, he supposed he couldn’t judge anyone who was afraid of clowns. Not everyone can control their fears. Not even himself. He never expressed this, but Chuuya feared his own power. There wasn’t a day when he didn’t think about the next time he had to use _Corruption,_ and when he was going to be left to die. Unfortunately, he was one of the few people whose fears actually came true.

The ginger came to a stop and looked to see plushies of both Agatha and those stupid statues that were the _bane_ of his existance back at the last couple of nightmares. “Oh, so glad to see these jackasses got merchandise,” he mumbled, voice laced with sarcasm. When he started walking again, he made it to the entrance to the big tent and saw the same clown car. He jumped when it sped up to the end, honked its horn and then zipped to the side.

“I think they’re inviting you in,” Bierce said. “Ready for the big top?”

“I need this ring piece, don’t I?” Chuuya said. “I don’t exactly have a choice in the matter.”

With that said, he walked forward and entered the big tent, eyeing the audience that looked like shadow figures. Or something of the sort. He looked forward and saw that one machine where you smash the hammer down and make the metal part to hit the bell. What were they called again? High-strikers. Unable to resist the temptation, Chuuya went over and picked up the hammer. _‘Am I seriously going to be doing this?’_ he thought to himself.

“Go on, press it,” Bierce whispered. “You know you want to. Live a little!”

“Ironic you would say that, considering I’m dead,” the ginger mumbled before eventually deciding, “but fuck it.” And then smashing the hammer down and hitting the bell. He grinned with pride before frowning at all the boos.

“Oh my, you actually did it!” the old woman said in surprise. “I may have underestimated how little you consider the consequences of your actions.”

“What the hell are you going on about? You’re the one who told me to do it!” He was cut off when the high-striker up and disappeared into a puff of smoke and confetti and then a giant cage fell on him. “The fuck!!” He yelled as he looked around. He flinched when the clown car appeared from the mouth of the entrance and began to drift around the cage, circling it at high speed. Chuuya couldn’t help but feel impressed. Clowns sure did know how to drift.

He flinched when the car finally stopped and six tiny clowns appeared and started to attack the cage. Man, these guys were ugly as hell and he didn’t know how to get out of this cage! He heard a beep and looked at the tablet to see a message.

_Use primal fear to escape!_

“Primal fear…?” He thought back to the ability he used on the monkey before taking a deep breath and unleashing it on the clowns, making them explode into confetti, the car and cage soon following after. The ginger was amazed with a result. He didn’t think he’d make monsters explode!

“You seem to be far luckier here in this world,” the old woman commented.

“Obviously,” Chuuya mumbled before taking a deep breath and going through the entrance.

* * *

Ambrose gave a soft hum as he read his book and Pale was still playing with Chuuya’s hair. When door opened, both perked up to see a figure in a black coat and a black mask.

“Ah, Black, you’ve come with news,” Pale said.

“Yeah, I managed to throw Red off the trail,” the figure named Black answered. “She’ll be preoccupied with the goose chase for a bit.”

“Good work, lad!” the blonde praised. “That should keep her at bay for the duration of Chuuya Nakahara’s stay here!”

Pale rolled his eyes underneath his mask. “You’re a little too enthusiastic about this, Ambrose,” he said bluntly.

“Oh, come now. His fellow mafia members or the man who loves him might come along to rescue him! Why not be a little enthusiastic about this? It can get boring, sitting around.”

“You could get yourself a new book,” Black pointed out.

“Indeed, I could’ve. But who’s going to watch over the young lad here?”

Both masked men looked at Ambrose like he was stupid, if anyone had the ability to see through their masks. Ambrose could tell without having to see their faces, though, and this made him chuckle in amusement.

“I’ll be right back then,” he said before getting up and walking out.

Pale sighed once he was finally gone. “That man is ridiculous,” he said.

“Why do you hang around him then?” Black asked.

“I’ve known him for a long time,” the skull masked man answered. “Someone has to keep him from causing so much trouble.”

“But he’s doing this to get Helen out, right?”

“That will depend on her, as he told me himself.”

* * *

Chuuya blinked when he found himself on a platform with images of clowns and Malak’s eye in the darkness of the air.

“Well, this is all a bit surreal,” Bierce said in surprise.

Chuuya only hummed as he walked up to what looked like a slide. He looked at how long it was, and wasn’t exactly sure if he wanted to get onto it. “That loop doesn’t look trustworthy,” he mumbled before out of nowhere, he slipped and fell onto the slide and slid onto it. “Holy shit!!” he yelled as he jumped from the curved part of the slide, hearing Malak laugh before landing onto the slide again. He shook his legs and waved his arms in panic when he slid on the loop and fell midair. “Get me off this thing!” he yelled before he slid off and landed on his feet on the checkered platform.

He breathed out as he looked back at the slide. “That was… interesting,” he said, pushing his hat down on his head, paranoid about losing it after that damn giant demon duck took it last time. When he looked back, he gaped at the zone he was in. Swinging hammers clacking together, and Chuuya could swear that he could see jack-in-the-boxes coming out occasionally.

“Woah….”

“What an unusual nightmare,” the old woman said. “What’s your connection to this place?”

“Honestly, I don’t have a clue. I’ve never been to the circus…”

Chuuya knew about circuses, the thing was that he’s never been to one in his life. He had no clue why he was even in this nightmare. No, he knew. He’s here collect the next ring piece. He just didn’t know how he was connected to this nightmare. Deciding not to sit around and dwell on it, he looked around before deciding to go right. He looked at the tablet and groaned a little. This zone had the shards spaced out everywhere. The only benefit was that he had to gather 60 shards.

“Well, no use in complaining about it…”

It was a lot of space for each of the shards. Then again, the place had them all spaced out. He figured it would be a difficult nightmare. Hell, the sewers in the last nightmare had sewer water that slowed him down when he tried to run and doors that were fucking slow!

Chuuya flinched when the hammers clacked together in front of him. “Holy shit!!” He must’ve gotten distracted with his thoughts. He saw the soul shard in the middle of the yellow light and used teleportation to snatch it without getting hit by the hammers. He perked up when he started hearing the sound of a car coming towards him. “Hmm…” Sure enough there it was, and once it got close enough to him, five clowns spawned out and began to chase him. “Ah, shit!!” he yelled as he ran.

He flinched when one of the clowns jumped up to him, only to be smashed by the hammers and exploding into confetti in the process. “Hah! Dumb fucker!” he said before using speed boost to get away from the others. It wasn’t long until he spotted another clown car, and he used teleportation to get past it before it could spawn more clowns. “Damnit! Didn’t think there’d be two of them!”

He then stopped. “Hold on…” He got an idea as he remembered primal fear before looking at the clowns and activating it. It didn’t blow them up like he expected, but it did leave them stunned. “God, this power is awesome,” the ginger said, grinning to himself before rushing off to collect more shards.

* * *

A knock was heard at the agency door and Naomi opened it to reveal a young woman with brown hair and hazel eyes, wearing a business suit.

“Ah, Rozan, you’re here!” Poe greeted. “Please, come in and have a seat!”

Rozan nodded before walking inside, a large file that was stuffed full of papers in her hand, more than likely reports. Dazai had no doubt that was the case file he needed. The case file of Ambrose Bierce’s disappearance.

“I’m guessing these are the members of the Armed Detective Agency,” Rozan said as she looked around as everyone stared at her.

“Yes,” Poe said. “Everyone, meet Shira Judith Rozan. She’s a detective back in America.”

“A pleasure,” Rozan replied. “Which one of you is the one who requested this case file?”

Dazai stood up from his desk. “I am,” he said seriously. “I appreciate you doing this.”

Everyone was surprised by this. Normally, Dazai would flirt and offer a double suicide like he did with any woman. But this time, he meant business. They weren’t sure how to handle this behavior. Ranpo saw this coming of course, but he couldn’t bring himself to be amused by everyone’s surprise.

“Well, you did say that you saw him,” the American detective sighed before going over and setting the case file down. Dazai briefly noticed the _cold_ stamp on the file, but didn’t say anything. “Here it is. The Ambrose Bierce Disappearance case file…”

The bandaged man didn’t hesitate to open the file. As expected, countless papers were hidden within the file, all expressing the disbelief of Ambrose Bierce’s disappearance. They all contained theories of whether he was alive or dead, but there was no evidence of either being the truth. But Dazai knew the man was alive. He saw him with his own eyes.

_“I do apologise, but I must borrow this young chap.”_

Those words haunted the brunette to no end. Something in the file caught his eyes, and he picked up a paper that had information of…

“Ambrose Bierce was a member of the Guild?” he asked.

“That’s right,” Rozan said, arms crossed. “Matter of fact, he joined the Guild when it was first formed. I’m sure that you know he was an ability user.”

“His ability is _The Devil’s Dictionary_ ,” Dazai confirmed.

“I don’t know the exact details, but it’s said to reveal what a person is guilty of and decides the punishment for those sins,” the detective said. “It had to be a pretty strong ability if he was a member of the Guild.”

"But where is he today?"

"Nobody knows. One day he just up and disappeared. Not a single trace of him was left behind. The last person who ever saw him was his daughter, but she wouldn't breathe a word of what he told her."

“What was her name?”

“Helen Bierce. She lived with her mother after he disappeared, and then later on in her life she became an actress, marrying a producer. She didn’t have much of a reputation until she was given the nickname ‘She-Devil of the Silver Screen’.”

Dazai looked through the papers and found something interesting. “I’m guessing that she also vanished as well?”

“That’s right. Helen was rumored to be a Satanist, and it wasn’t proven true until the authorities raided her home and saw demonic symbols written in blood. Considering that she was Ambrose Bierce’s only daughter, they thought their disappearances might’ve been connected somehow so they put the two cases together.”

“But nobody was able to find her either…”

“I’m afraid not…”

“But you saw Ambrose Bierce, Dazai,” Ranpo piped up. “If he’s alive, then that probably means she’s alive somewhere as well…”

“Thank you for this, Rozan-san,” the brunette said. “I’m very grateful that you took the time to come here and show this to me.”

“Hey, the minute I said Poe told me that you saw him, they wanted me to go immediately,” Rozan said with a shrug. “What exactly did you need this case file for anyway?”

“... Ambrose Bierce took someone I love more than anything in the world,” Dazai answered. “I’m trying to get him back.”

“Well, good luck with that I guess,” the woman said.

“Now that we know who we’re dealing with,” Ranpo said, pulling out his glasses. “Let’s find your damsel in distress, ne~?”

Dazai gave a faint smile and nodded. “Yeah…”

The candy loving detective put his glasses on as a map was laid out. He gave a hard look before pointing at a lone spot. “Chuuya is being held here,” he said. “In an abandoned church. Most likely being watched by Ambrose.”

The brunette nodded. “Then that’s where I’m heading…”

“Dazai-san, wait!” Atsushi said, getting up. “I’m coming with you!”

“I appreciate that, Atsushi-kun,” Dazai said sincerely. “But this is something I need to do on my own.”

“Well, sorry to burst your bubble, Dazai, but you don’t have a choice in the matter,” Yosano said, leaving her office. “We’re all coming with you.”

“Guys…”

“This incident made you look like a man waiting to be lead to death’s door, and disrupted our schedule,” Kunikida said, getting up. “No way are you facing this alone.”

Dazai stared at everyone in shock. “You’re all... “ he didn’t know what to say, and he was trying not to tear up. To hide it, he looked down, hiding his eyes with his hair. “Thank you…”

Everyone smiled at him at that.

“One more thing,” Ranpo said, making everyone look at him. “Ambrose Bierce isn’t alone. He’s got some people in the church with him.”

“Who?” Dazai asked, and the detective looked at him with his green eyes.

_“Three of the Four Horseman…”_

* * *

“31 shards to go,” Chuuya said with a relieved sigh. “This zone is easier than I thought.” He frowned when he couldn't find any sign of the shards on the tablet. “Hmmm…” He looked up and saw the same area in the air. “Maybe the rest are up there,” he said before going to a green portal that go him right to the top. When he looked at the tablet again, he saw each shards location again. “Yep, I was right.”

“Bet you wish you could rub it in that Dazai fellow’s face,” Bierce said with a teasing smirk.

“Heh, yeah, I really wish I could,” the ginger said solemnly before looking at the tablet. “Wish these shards weren’t so spaced out, though. But beggars can’t be choosers I guess…”

Deciding to end the conversation with that, Chuuya ran forward, careful not to lose his footing on those spinning circular floors and continuing on with his search of the shards. He did well in avoiding both the hammers and the jack-in-the-boxes, using both the speed boost and the teleportation in order to avoid them. He used telepathy to see where the clown cars were, and sure enough they were coming right for him.

“Hmm… I wonder if I can just…”

Chuuya stopped running and waited for the cars to get closer until he used primal fear, making both cars stop. He was expecting the clowns to spawn out, but thankfully none of them did and he swiftly ran past the cars to continue with his search.

Although, there was something that was bothering him. The last few nightmares showed his memories, but this nightmare didn’t. Then again, Bierce had asked him what his connection to this place was and he responded that he had no clue.

“How am I connected to this place…?”

The answer was given to him when he suddenly found himself in a forest with many lanterns lit up. He gaped at the darkness of the forest being lit up by the lanterns that seemed to lead to a path to a small shrine. Chuuya decided to follow the path and head to the shrine. What he saw made him freeze on the spot.

Sitting at the shrine was none other than Arahabaki himself, in human form. He was almost identical to Chuuya in appearance; but the difference was that Arahabaki’s hair was black as night and so long that it reached the middle of his back in curls, and his eyes were like that of fire, just like in his beast form. His body had the same markings when Chuuya used _Corruption,_ and the god of calamity was wearing a black kimono.

The ginger watched as Arahabaki was being entertained by extremely miniature oni like creatures.

_Yanari…_

Chuuya’s eyes softened when Arahabaki covered his mouth to conceal his laughter as the yanari struggled to make a tower by climbing onto each other. But when they failed and fell over, the god of calamity burst into laughter. The petite executive was a little disappointed that he didn’t get the hear the god laugh, but it was still a heartwarming sight to see him smile. He was disappointed when the memory faded away and he was back in this weird zone.

Okay so… Maybe this place was supposed to show the good times the god had? The ginger wasn’t sure… He looked at the tablet and saw he had 20 shards left. Might as well stop stalling. He quickly ran forward, but then skidded to a halt when one of the cars stopped right in front of him and he backed up when five of the clowns spawned out, forcing him to use primal fear as he ran backwards. When he looked at the clown closest to him, he got a bright idea.

“How about a little game of soccer?” he mumbled with a mischievous glint in his eyes and a smug grin. He then ran forward and kicked the clown, resulting in it knocking down not only the other clowns but the clown car as well. “Ah, that felt good~”

Bierce chuckled at this behavior. She had to admit, Chuuya Nakahara was probably one of most feistiest guests that she had ever had the pleasure of receiving. She heard Arahabaki snort in amusement, sensing his vessel’s entertainment.

Chuuya grinned a little when he heard the old woman laugh before continuing on with finding the shards. By the last shard, he swiftly grabbed it and checked the tablet. “Hmm… I wonder if this green trail is leading me to the exit…” He decided to test this theory and follow the trail to the bottom section of the zone. After taking a long way, he made it to a green portal and went through it. The ginger blinked when he found himself inside a purple tent, but perked up when he caught sight of the ring alter.

“Awesome..”

He got close to it as he noticed that there wasn’t an exit anywhere, but flinched when he heard something shift and he turned to see an opening appearing. However, a clown spawned up and went to attack him. Chuuya scoffed and used primal fear to stun it. He then kicked it around like a kick ball as he waited for the opening to shift again. When the clown finally came to, the ginger put pressure on his foot and crushed the ugly little thing.

“Nice try, ugly. You ain’t getting your stubby little fingers on me.”

The clown could only squeal in response, but the ginger simply ignored it as the opening shifted again to show a green portal, causing the clown to explode into confetti under his foot. The executive walked towards the portal quickly, just in case the opening shifted again, before the portal sent him to a…

“A roller coaster…?”

Chuuya inspected the smiling roller coaster. He wasn’t sure if he should get onto this thing, because it felt like a trap. He wouldn’t put it past Malak to try a trick like that.

“Fuck it…”

The ginger got inside the roller coaster cart and the bar shifted down and the doors in front opened to reveal patterns of neon colors changing and glowing as the cart began to move forward.

“Are you prone to motion sickness?” Bierce asked. “I hope not. Because there’s more of this here.”

Chuuya squeezed his eyes shut when the colors got into his eyes. “Damn! This is some trippy shit,” he groaned. “I hope I don’t have epilepsy, because damn these colors are fucking bright…” He flinched when the floor started going down when they reached the end. He squeezed the bridge of his nose as he shielded his eyes from the lights. “So fucking trippy…” He opened his eyes a little to see doors open and reveal _giant_ clowns waving at him. “The hell…” He gaped as he was getting closer to the giant clowns and they laughed as they continued to wave at him. “I’m just gonna pretend I didn’t see that…”

He tapped his fingers as he passed under the closing teeth and squinted his eyes when he was met with more colorful patterns. When he passed through a swirl of a little more darker colors, he breathed. “Man, it almost feels like I’m tripping balls here…” 

The next place he entered was a tunnel of black walls with blue stripes. “Oh, thank god, it’s not so bright…”

After making a few turns, he finally reached the end to the entrance of the…

“Funhouse?” he mumbled as he left the cart and walked towards the green portal. “Well, it looks like I’ll be getting the rest of the shards… Here goes nothing.”

With that, he stepped through the portal.

* * *

"Kouyou-sama, we finally have a lead!"

Kouyou turned to one of her men, red eyes filled with hope. “Where is he?”

“He was taken to an abandoned church,” he answered. “The person holding him is there as well. We think he’s alone.”

“Good work. We will head here immediately,” she said. _‘Chuuya, please be patient. You’re coming home soon.’_

“Kouyou-san…”

The executive turned to see Akutagawa. “Akutagawa,” she greeted with indifference. “Here to be the boss’ lap dog?”

Akutagawa didn’t say anything at first, because he knew to show respect when he was in the presence of an executive. He waited a moment before he spoke. “You’ve found Chuuya-san,” he said.

“I’ve found a lead, but yes,” Kouyou said. “What is your intention here? Because you know you can’t stop me if the boss has sent you to.”

“No, I’m here of my own volition,” the young man said. “The boss knows what you’re doing, but he hasn’t anyone to stop you.”

“Then why are you here?”

“...”

“I see. You believe that traitor will try to look for him too, and if you assist him, he might praise you, yes?”

Akutagawa’s silence proved her suspicion.

“Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I already have assistance from the Black Lizard. I’m not interested in feeding your need to please your former mentor.” Kouyou turned away from him. “If that’s all you needed, then get out of my sight.”

“It’s about Dazai-san, but it’s not what you think?” Akutagawa growled.

The red haired woman turned back to him with a raised brow. “Oh?”

“It’s hard to believe, but Dazai-san… He would want the Red woman dead,” he explained. “There’s no doubt that she’s looking for Chuuya-san’s body as well. And if she finds him before any of us do… I don’t know what to expect, considering that he’s already dead… But there’s no doubt Dazai-san will try to kill her himself, and it’s almost impossible to kill her.”

“Ah, yes, you fought her yourself once, haven’t you?” Kouyou recalled. “You claimed that she had a regenerating ability…”

“It wasn’t just a regenerating ability. This ability was… It was unnatural. Not even the Jinko could regenerate that fast.”

Both mafia members were silent as they stared each other down.

“So you wish to try to kill Red before Dazai does?” Kouyou asked. “How childish can you be?”

Akutagawa simply turned away. "I'm not using Chuuya-san as an excuse, but I will admit that I have a score to settle with that woman…"

Kouyou stared at him long and hard before looking away. "Very well. Do as you wish."

* * *

Chuuya blinked when he found the inside of this funhouse to be darker than the first zone. When he stepped forward and deeper into the fun house, he blinked when his clothes turned into neon colors.

"Hmm… Interesting," he mumbled.

"What's black and white and red all over?" Bierce asked.

"Is this one of those stupid jokes, or is that legitimate question?"

"I'd start running before you find out."

He took a quick look at the tablet. 220. That wasn't too bad. And the shards weren't as separated as the last zone.

"Well, no sense in standing around."

With that, he began his search, giving a light jog since he didn't see any of the clowns. Being in the mafia has taught him that if one place is too quiet, it's never a good sign. So he must always keep his guard up. No matter what. Just because he didn't see any clowns didn't mean that they're not here with him.

He made a few turns and grabbed a couple of shards on the way when he stopped at the sound of a _bang._ He looked to the source and saw a room with cannons blasting every few seconds.

“.... Cannons… This zone is quite the charmer…”

Chuuya saw a shard on the other side, and waited as the cannons fired again before speed boosting his way to the shard. "I have a feeling those things are going to be bitch to avoid," he mumbled. He heard footsteps approaching and saw a large group of clowns coming towards him. “Aw, son of a bitch!” he yelled before taking off.

Chuuya yelped when one jumped out from the corner and tried to grab him, but he caught the ugly little thing first and threw it at the others, knocking them over in the process. “Strike!”

He ran forward but gaped when he saw more clowns coming. “Seriously!? How many of you fuckers are there!?”

To satisfy his curiosity, he used telepathy and there were over _200_ clowns all running in different directions just to get to him.

“Oh fuck…”

He was so screwed.

* * *

“So you’re secretly an ability user?”

“Yep,” Rozan answered. “Normally, the government back in the states wouldn’t allow an ability user to work for the police, but they’ve decided to make use out of me, since there’s hardly any ability users left in the US.”

“Her ability is _Trail of the Moon,_ ” Poe explained. “It allows her to track down anyone--”

“But the _drawback_ is that I need an object that the person owned under my touch, or else I own be able to find them,” Rozan interrupted.

“So a personal object of the person you’re looking for?” Atsushi asked curiously.

“Yes,” the American woman said. “Though I don’t see why you would need my ability. Didn’t you guys figure out where your friend is already?”

“We have, but… I need to make sure,” Dazai said seriously. “For all we know, Ambrose, the one who took Chuuya, might have already left.”

“And we just need to make sure he’s still there,” Ranpo added.

Rozan raised an eyebrow. “How exactly would Ambrose Bierce know if you guys are looking for him?” she asked.

“There’s something about him that just doesn’t sit well with me,” the bandaged man said. “His aura seemed… _otherworldly._ Like he looks human, but doesn’t seem human.”

Rozan looked at Poe, who simply shrugged. “Alright,” she said. “I’ll use my ability. Do you have a personal item I can use to track down your friend?”

Dazai nodded before taking out the lock of Chuuya’s hair from his pocket. The American detective gave a weirded out look to the brunette, but took the lock of hair before staring at it. With a deep breath, she activated her ability, and her eyes turned white.

_Trail of the Moon_

She was then seeing a vision, zipping through from the agency building to the streets and then it leads to a forest. Her vision zipped past the trees, and it wasn’t long before it came to a church. It was run down and more than likely abandoned, had her vision not entered through the door and spotted three bodies at the altar. She saw a person in a pale cloak and skull mask, a man with blonde hair and a brown suit, and then finally, she saw a young man with orange hair and a black suit, laying down on a bed of camellias.

Rozan gasped after her ability timed out and she panted.

“Rozan?” Poe asked. “What did you see?”

“Edogawa is right,” the woman answered, trying to catch her breath. “Your friend is there, and so is Ambrose Bierce and someone in a pale cloak and skull mask.”

“Just as Ranpo said,” Kunikida said with a frown.

"Did you see anyone else?" Dazai asked.

Rozan shook her head no.

"That means the other two horseman are currently performing a task given to them by their leader," Ranpo said with a frown.

"Regardless, we don't have time to waste," Dazai said firmly. "We need to get going now."

Rozan flinched at the dark look the bandaged man had and looked at Ranpo with a questioning gaze, to which the detective simply waved it off.

"Let's have Rozan draw a path in the map first," he suggested. "More specifically, the quickest path, if you don't mind~"

The woman nodded before drawing the path to the church. "This will get you there in no time," she said.

Everyone nodded in appreciation.

"Ranpo, if you don't mind me asking," Dazai sai. "What is it that the other two horseman are doing? What task did their leader give them?"

Ranpo opened his eyes as he stared at the bandaged man with a hard look.

_"They're keeping Red at bay."_

* * *

Chuuya panted as he sat upon the colorful floor of the upper level of a small corridor he found. There was a portal on the side of it, and it led him up here. He managed to find a few shards up here as well, so that worked as a bonus and a place to hide whenever he was getting tired.

“At least I won’t have to deal with those stupid cars…”

He glanced down past the railings and saw a clown waving up at him with its creepy smile. In return for the gesture, the ginger simply flipped it off.

“Ugly little freak…”

“You’re not getting out of here until you all the souls shards,” Bierce pointed out. “You do get that, right?”

“God, can’t I just have at least a five minute break, woman!?” Chuuya yelled. “I’m working my ass off to stay alive, in case you’ve forgotten!”

The old woman simply rolled her eyes as the young executive checked the tablet. It hasn’t been that long into the zone, and he was already at 109 shards. That was an accomplishment if you asked him. So the old lady better not complain damnit!!

Thinking his break is now over, he exited through the portal to get downstairs before rushing off to get to the tracks that he found around the zone. From what he could tell, all he needed to do was follow the tracks and he’ll have the shards. It seemed simple enough.

And it was for a moment, because he’d managed to snatch up at twenty of them before he spotted a roller coaster cart coming at him at full speed. “Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck--” he cursed as he used speed boost to go backwards and then teleported over the cart as it passed by.

“Son of a bitch! That could’ve killed me!” he said in shock. “Although… it could be useful if I end up backed into a corner…”

Deciding that would come until later, Chuuya continued to gather the rest of the shards before leaving the track trail to get the rest from the funhouse. Unfortunately, he ended up attracting some clowns and he had to run from the shards. He cursed when more kept coming and quickly made a sharp turn before coming across a ball pit and jumping inside it.

When the clowns came, they simply passed by the ball pit as they ran. Once all of them were out of sight, Chuuya slowly stuck his head out of the ball pit and checked his surroundings before sighing in relief.

“Never thought I’d be grateful to use a ball pit as a hiding place…”

Chuuya fully stood up in the ball pit, the balls shifting in time with the movement, and he noticed a couple soul shards in the room. “Sweet,” he said happily before walking through the pit to get the shards. He checked the map and saw that there was another ball pit room that wasn’t too far. He used telepathy in order to make sure the coast was clear before moving on.

By the time he got those shards, he’d reach 67 soul shards.

“Just keep going, Chuuya,” he mumbled to himself. “You’re almost done here.”

He soon came across a room with thin pillars. The shards hiding in here were probably scattered about, so he needed to tread carefully. He moved passed the pillars to grab at least two shards before he heard clowns coming. “Ah, shit!” he cursed as he tried to move passed the pillars as fast as he could. “Son of a bitch-- Gah!!” he yelled as one clown managed to grab his leg and make him fall down. “You little shit!!” he growled before kicking it off.

The ginger yelped as more came towards him and he scooted back as fast as he could, before using primal fear once they grabbed his legs. He scrambled to get back up and grab the rest of the fourteen shards that were in the room before quickly getting out. He heard more footsteps before making his way to another corridor and jumping through the portal on the side to get upstairs.

Chuuya fell on his rear and took this time to catch his breath. “How did all those fuckers know where to come at me..?” He thought for a moment before his blue eyes widened. “When one clown sees me… it calls to the others…” He grit his teeth. “Okay, that’s some bullshit!!”

He got up and stomped around to gather more shards.

“Stupid little fuckers!! They shouldn’t even be having that kind of advantage!! But nooooo!!! Let’s make it difficult for the best martial artist in Port Mafia!! That’ll be the best entertainment, huh!?”

“Growling about it isn’t going to get you more soul shards,” Bierce said.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said sarcastically. “Who exactly is it that is stuck dealing with these shitheads just to get the ring piece? Me or you?” When he heard silence, he huffed. “I thought so.”

He looked at the tablet. “40 shards left… Time to get the rest.”

* * *

Ambrose hummed as he read his new book and Pale was talking to someone in a white cloak and a white mask.

“I’ve put the cloaking spell on the church,” the white cloaked person informed. “And Black is keeping Red occupied for the time being.”

“Good work, White,” Pale said before turning to Ambrose. “They’re on their way, aren’t they?”

“Indeed they are,” Ambrose said with a grin. “Osamu Dazai and the Armed Detective Agency, and the Port Mafia. Who will get here first?”

“I’m sure you already know the answer to that,” the leader of the Horseman said.

“Ah, but it would be rude to spoil it, don’t you think?” Ambrose said happily. “Let’s sit on the edge of our seats, and wait for the exciting conclusion with patience!”

White looked at him before looking at Pale. “Should I greet them when they get here?” they asked. “Whoever gets here first, that is.”

“Depending on where they are, it seems more likely that the Armed Detective Agency may get here first before the Port Mafia,” Pale said.

“What if they both get here?”

“Ah! Now that would be even more exciting!” the blonde man said with great enthusiasm. “A standoff! Will they attack each other or come to the church together!” He reached out and pet Chuuya’s hair. “Quite the acquaintances you’ve got dear fellow!”

“Be careful, Ambrose,” the skull masked man said. “The body is delicate.”

“Not delicate, dear friend, just petite,” Ambrose chuckled.

White noticed something before reaching down and grabbing up a blood stained handkerchief. “You used this to clean him up?” they asked.

Ambrose gave a sad smile. “Yes, and to be honest, I feel bad for the poor boy,” he said. “To have such a destructive power, used for experimentation and then becoming the vessel of a god.”

“But the god loved the child,” Pale said as he pet Chuuya’s hair delicately. “He watched over the boy his whole life, and the boy never even realized it until his death.”

“Speaking of which,” Ambrose said with a grin. “He’s almost there.”

* * *

Chuuya ran as fast as he could as he was chased down by a huge army of clowns. “Of all the times for this to happen, it had to be when I’m on the last fucking shard!!” he yelled before remembering. He quickly ran to the tracks and stopped to wave his arms. “Oi! Over here, fuckers!”

He grinned in satisfaction when the clowns started coming his way and quickly ran to the other side, the ugly creatures hot in pursuit. The ginger bit his lip as he listened for the roller coaster cart and the squeaky feet of the clowns behind him.

He used speed boost in order to get further away from them and then stopped after turning a corner. There, he waited for both the clowns and the cart to come at the same time.

"Wait for it…" Chuuya grinned as he saw the roller coaster cart coming at high speed and began to run toward it when the clowns got closer. "Wait for it…" he mumbled as he got closer.

And in a flash, Chuuya jumped over there cart and the clowns all exploded into confetti as each one was run over one by one.

"Yes!!" Chuuya cheered, pumping his fist up. "Who's laughing now, you ugly little shits!!"

Bierce chuckled in amusement before Chuuya quickly ran out and grabbed the last shard.

"That's it!" The old woman said. "Now get to the ring piece."

"Got it," Chuuya said before running to the exit.

_"You just don't know when to quit, do you!?"_

Chuuya groaned at the sound of Malak's voice before swiftly dodging the phantom form of the demon and running to the exit. He used the speed boost to get there faster, and once he went through the portal, he found himself back in the purple tent, the ring piece now exposed. Since no one was in the tent with him, the ginger peacefully walked over and grabbed the piece with a smile.

"Jackpot."

He blinked when he heard the tent begin to turn and out came two clowns this time. He scoffed before using primal fear on them when they reached him. Chuuya leaned against the statue as the tent continued to shift a couple more times until the portal appeared and the clowns exploded.

"Time to get out of here," he said before walking through the portal.

* * *

Red walked around the dark alley with a hum. Black wanted to talk with her about something, and though it would normally waste her time, she might as well hear him out. For now at least.

_“You’re taking too long.”_

"Shut up," she growled. "This will only take a minute. Then I'll keep looking."

She was satisfied when the voice in her head fell silent and continued on until she spotted Black. "Yo," she said.

Black turned to her and stood tall. "Didn't think you'd make it," he commented.

"Yeah, well I had other plans, but I put it off to see you what you wanted," Red replied.

"Pale is angry with you," the black masked man said. "We were supposed to settle our business down here in Yokohama peacefully, but then you apeshit and killed a member of the Port Mafia. Why did you do that?"

Red scoffed. "What reason is there?" She answered vaguely. "The executive looked fun to fight. Nothing more. It ain't my fault his own power killed him."

_"After you kept that suicidal mortal at bay."_

"Shut up," she growled quietly.

"What was that?" Black asked.

"Wasn't talking to you!" Red yelled.

The man in black was confused and he searched around to see if anyone else was with them. When he looked back at his comrade, he finally understood.

"Red… Did you kill Chuuya Nakahara out of free will?"

"The fuck?" Red asked. "What kind of question is that?"

"You've always done whatever Pale asked of you, other times you do things on impulse," Black said seriously. "Was it your plan to kill Chuuya Nakahara?" His eyes narrowed underneath his mask. "Or did someone else tell you to do it…"

Silence fell better the two horseman before Red laughed a little.

"You know, this is one of the few rare times you've actually been smart," she said, grinning under her mask.

"I know your ability doesn't exactly make you right in the head, but I know you wouldn't kill someone without reason," Black said. "Relax. Just tell me. We're friends, right?"

"That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think?" The red clad woman said. She suddenly drew out two katanas and zipped forward, only for her blades to be blocked by chains that Black pulled out.

He wrapped up the swords before kicking her away. "Red, stop while you still can," he ordered. "You've caused enough damage."

"Oh, look at you~" Red teased, pulling out a handgun. "Taking charge like a big boy~"

Black dropped the swords before whispering, " _Lord of the Flies…_ " He reached his arm out and flying insects flew out of his sleeves and swarmed Red.

"Gah!! What the fuck!?" She yelled as she tried to swat them all away.

Black watched her struggle with the insects before throwing a chain up and wrapping it around a metal ladder and then bringing it down swiftly onto Red, crushing her skull by the edge of the bar and making her fall dead to the ground.

"That'll keep her down for now," Black said to himself as the insects returned to him. "I better hurry and go tell Pale."

With that, he swiftly ran into the darkness.

After a few minutes of silence, Red moved her arms to grab the ladder and move it out of the way and then began to stand up with a groan, rubbing her head as her skull reformed back to the way it was before it got crushed. "That stupid fucker," she growled. She rolled up her sleeve to see a number _27._ "God damnit…"

* * *

Chuuya blinked as he found himself outside of the big top and hearing a strange noise ahead. He walked over and saw a clown face with a blade that looked like teeth coming down every few seconds. “Bitch, please,” he mumbled as he passed the trap in record time, same with the other one at the end. He grinned when he found himself at the carousel and rushed to the exit.

“Time to get the fuck out,” he said before skidded to a stop when purple webbing appeared.

“Ah-ah-ah! I’ve got you now, mortal.”

Chuuya swiftly turned his attention to Malak as the demon stood in front of the carousel.

“Here we are, yet again,” the demon said. “It’s not going to go quite so well for you this time. I’ll finish you off here and take. Your. _Soul..._ ” Malak smirked when he saw the mortal start to sweat. “That said, seeing as you’re so capable, let’s up the ante a bit, shall we? I don’t want to keep underestimating your luck.”

Chuuya gaped as the giant clowns that he saw from the roller coaster ride appeared around the whole carnival in laughter.

“Keep ‘em laughing while you die, won't you!” Malak laughed before disappearing.

“Oh fuck me...,” the ginger groaned before a malet appeared in his hands. He flinched when the giant clowns spat out blue orbs, and when the orbs touched the ground, they turned into those mini clowns. “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me!”

The closest clown that managed to get to him was smashed into confetti and he blinked in surprise. “Well, this will come in handy,” he said before getting some distance between himself and the others, smashing another clown as it got closer. “Damnit, there’s too many of them!” Chuuya felt the tablet vibrate and pulled it out to see a message.

_Hit the giant’s hands._

“What?” he mumbled as he backed up against the stall in front of one of the giants. He looked up and saw the giant raising his fist before before bringing it down. “Oh shit!” Chuuya yelled as he dodged the fist, avoiding being crushed. His blue eyes turned red after he used primal fear on the small army of clowns and this time it made them explode. “Would’ve been helpful if they did that from the start…”

He swiftly got back up on his feet as the giants spat out more clowns. “Oh, come on!! Seriously!!?”

Chuuya growled as he smashed more clowns with the mallet and ran to get at least a bit of distance from them. But no more how many clowns he killed, more just kept being spat out. “Damnit! What did that stupid message mean!?” He froze after getting a good distance away from the small clowns before looking up at one of the big ones. He quickly got close to one and jumped back when the giant clown tried to crush him with its fist. After that, he quickly hit the fist with the mallet and the giant pulled back and swayed around, as if it was dizzy.

“That’s it,” he whispered.

Chuuya smashed a few more miniature clowns that got close to him before he used his speed boost to get to another giant clown. He dodged a fist before hitting it with the mallet and got the same reaction. How a small mallet can cause harm to a giant, Chuuya didn’t know nor did he give a flying fuck. If he can use this advantage to escape this nightmare, he will. He then rushed to the third giant, and dodged its fist before hitting it.

“This is surprisingly easy,” he mumbled before using primal fear on the small army. He ignored the additional clowns that got spat out as he got to the fourth giant and hit its fist before it could even reach the ground.

“How many times do I have to hit these things?”

He got cornered by the army of clowns, but teleported over them and then got to the first giant that he hit. When the giant brought its fist down, Chuuya smashed it and the giant flashed into a bright blue before vanishing. “Two times… Pretty helpful.”

He rushed to the second giant, hitting the other clowns on his way, before hitting it right as the giant’s fist nearly hit the ground and destroying it. “Two down, two to go,” he mumbled before he went to get to the third giant, only to be tripped on his feet and fall to the ground. “What the hell!?” he growled before turning to see a clown had gotten ahold of his foot. “Little shit!”

He kicked the ugly creature off and used primal fear on the other before they could jump him. Chuuya looked up and saw the two giants spit out more clowns than usual. “Guess they gotta do the extra work without their buddies around,” he mumbled.

He crushed some of them with the mallet when they got close, and he teleported over the rest in order to get to the third giant. By the time the giant slammed its fist down to the ground, the ginger hit it in a swift motion and the giant disappeared. He was quick to get to the last giant and waited for it to slam its fist down.

“Last one,” he said before raising the mallet up. However, a couple of clowns jumped up and grabbed the mallet before yanking the executive down, causing him to yelp as he landed on his back. “Hey!! Get off!!” he yelled as the clowns tried to hold him down. One of them actually tried to bite him in the face, and he managed to push it back away from him, but that only result in his arm getting bit. “Son of a bitch!!” he hissed in pain.

Having had enough, he used primal fear on them all and got right in front of the giant. “No sense in spitting out more of those little shits!” He yelled up to it. “Go ahead and crush me!”

The giant was dumb enough to take that as an invitation, and it tried to crush the ginger with its fist. However, Chuuya had teleported out of its path by a short distance and the creature missed. “Now then…” He raised the mallet with a glare. “FUCK OFF!!!”

With that, he slammed the mallet down onto the fist and destroyed the giant.

“No! Impossible!!” Malak shouted in shock.

“You better believe it’s possible, you demon bastard!!” Chuuya yelled as he threw the mallet down and began to run when the barrier wasn’t blocking the exit.

Malak growled at this. “ _Mortal…_ Your suffering will be _eternal!_ ”

The ginger looked back as the phantom of the demon gave chase and he scoffed before running past the stalls. He nearly slowed down as the area started changing, and the stalls were different. There was food and fun little games. Chuuya didn’t stop running since he could still feel Malak behind him, but he looked around as he realized that he was in a festival.

When he looked to the side, he caught a glimpse of a woman with orange hair cascading down her shoulders, and she was holding a small sleeping boy in her arms, probably no older than three years old. His blue eyes widened as he realized that the boy was _him._

Chuuya shook his head before he ran through the portal and made it back to the ballroom. He panted as he put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. However, he winced in pain and looked at the bite mark on his arm. Bierce went over to him and examined the bite mark. The clown that did this was extremely malicious if the bite was this bad. After examining it, she placed her hand on it and started to heal it.

Chuuya breathed out in relief as his wound was starting to heal from the old woman’s magic. He stole a quick glance up at the door and Malak only stared back.

“You’re only delaying the inevitable, Bierce,” the demon said. “You can’t keep me out of your little pocket dimension forever. I’m coming to collect what is _owed,_ and I’m bringing your _worst_ nightmares with me! You and the mortal are both going to pay… with interest.” He then turned to Chuuya. “You give her that ring piece, and you’re going to regret it!”

Bierce glared up at him. “More lies and empty threats,” she stated. “You expect him to trust you, when you’ve tried to kill him at every turn?”

“That’s practically the only thing you’ve been doing since I got here,” Chuuya agreed. “Face it. You can’t stop me from getting back home, and you know it.”

Malak simply scoffed. “Enjoy your moment,” he said. “It won’t last.”

“What difference does it make?” the old woman said, rolling her eyes before turning to the ginger. “Bring the piece here, love.”

Chuuya nodded before going to the altar and placing the ring piece on it. He grinned before turning to the old woman, who held his face.

“We’re halfway there, love,” Bierce said with eyes full of hope. “Just four more pieces to go. Don’t disappoint me now.”

Chuuya smiled at this before Bierce let go of his face so he could rush over and grip the bars of the red cage. “You hear that, Arahabaki?” he said excitedly before reaching out and holding the beast’s muzzle. “Only four more pieces left, and then you and I are home free!”

Arahabaki let out a rumble and nuzzled his vessel’s cheek affectionately. The ginger gave the snout a quick peck before looking to see the next portal open. He walked away from the cage to the portal.

_I’m almost there. Ane-san, everyone… I’m coming home._

* * *

The Armed Detective Agency walked through the woods in the middle of the day. Dazai looked around anxiously.

“Are we almost there?” he asked.

“Be patient,” Kunikida said with a frown as he looked at the map. “Rozan traced the pattern to the church, so we should be there in record time.”

The bandaged man gripped his hand into a tight fist at this. He really needed to get to this church soon. He wanted to see Chuuya again.

“Dazai-san?” Atsushi asked in worry.

Dazai faked a smile. “I’m fine, Atsushi-kun, just a little anxious,” he said.

The boy didn’t really believe him, but he decided not to press the issue. “Hey, Kyouka-chan, do you see anything?” he asked.

“Not really,” Kyouka said with a frown. “All I see are these trees. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

Ranpo frowned before coming to a stop. “Everyone. Stop.”

The whole group looked back at the detective in confusion.

“Ranpo-san?” Atsushi asked.

Ranpo placed a finger against his own lips, gesturing for everyone to be quiet. Seeing this was enough to make them understand that something was here in the woods with them. Tanizaki flinched when an arrow landed beside his foot. “Gah!!”

Everyone looked up at the trees to see White with a bow and arrow. They drew another arrow back before releasing it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ability, _Trail of the Moon_ named after two of the IRL S.J. Rozan's books.
> 
> Trail of Blood and Shanghai Moon
> 
> I thought it would be a little fitting if the ability was a tracking ability.
> 
> And in case no one has figured it out, yes, the group that is helping to guard Chuuya is named after the four horseman of the apocalypse and you will get to see them in the next chapter from where it all started.
> 
> Thank you all for the support, hope you had fun reading this chapter.
> 
> See you next time!


	7. Four Horsemen pt 1 - Pale of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth."_
> 
> — Revelation 6:7–8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Wasn't expecting the next chapter so soon?
> 
> Well chapter 4 of Dark Deception is still in progress, so I figured I'd share the origin of Chuuya's death as we wait patiently.
> 
> Did I use that right? Origin? I don't know
> 
> I don't own BSD or Dark Deception
> 
> Enjoy!

“Someone swiped up our cargo?” Chuuya asked in shock.

“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Mori said. “A small group of ability users called the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They stole a great deal of amount of weapons. They’re not a big threat to Yokohama. This wasn an… invitation per say.”

“Invitation?” Kouyou asked in disbelief. “They stole from us. How could this possibly be an invitation?”

“One of our men was left a letter,” the Port Mafia boss answered, holding up an envelope. “It seems to be from the leader himself, left behind by a masked woman in a red coat he told me.”

The young man narrowed his eyes. “Why steal our cargo and then leave a letter behind?” he asked. “They could’ve done this peacefully.”

“Perhaps it was the best way to grab our attention,” Mori said. “I read the letter already, and the leader himself even admitted that he allowed one of his subordinates to use the method of her choosing, which he now sees as a mistake on his part; and should we accept the invitation to meet with him, our cargo will be returned without a fight.”

“Can we really trust this, Boss?” Chuuya asked with a skeptical look.

“I must agree,” Kouyou said. “It’s not exactly wise to steal from the Port Mafia and then send an invitation to get them back.”

“Now, now, you two,” Mori said with a smile. “Let’s not be so quick to judge. They did say they would return our cargo if we agree to meet with them. Who knows, they might have a sound business proposition.”

Both executives looked at each other with uncertainty. They didn’t exactly trust this group of ability users after they stole from the Port Mafia, but if the boss had a good feeling about this meeting, then they couldn’t exactly go against his orders. They can voice their concerns, but whatever Mori says goes.

“It’s settled then,” the boss said with a smile as he saw his executives silently, and reluctantly, agree to the meeting. “The leader will be expecting us tomorrow evening at a small warehouse not too far from here. We’ll meet with these ability users then.”

“Understood, Boss,” both executives said in sync.

“You’re both dismissed.”

* * *

Chuuya frowned as he and Kouyou had tea, both being a little unsettled with these turn of events.

“I’m not exactly sure what Mori is thinking,” Kouyou said, sipping her tea. “First our cargo is stolen and now this meeting? It seems as though this small group is trying to get themselves killed.”

“Which wouldn’t be too hard, considering there’s only four members,” the petite executive agreed. “I don’t like this at all.”

“Neither do I, but orders are orders. We’ll meet with them as Mori expects us to. Unless there’s anything suspicious about this group that he picks up on, we can’t do anything more than that.”

Chuuya sighed. “They could’ve just sent the stupid letter and be done with it,” he mumbled. “There really was no need to go through the trouble of stealing our cargo.”

“Perhaps the one who stole it thought it would be amusing to rile us up,” Kouyou said. “Very tacky, if you ask me.”

The younger executive chuckled at this.

“And the leader shouldn’t let his subordinates run wild in the first place,” she added. “If he gives them too much freedom, it’ll cause problems and give them the idea that they walk all over him.”

“It is pretty irresponsible,” he agreed.

Kouyou looked at her pupil. “Lad, are you feeling alright?” she asked in concern. “Normally you would be freely expressing your anger about a situation like this. Is something wrong?”

Chuuya flinched. He should’ve known she would catch on. “I’m fine, Ane-sa--”

“Don’t lie to me,” Kouyou said with a stern look. “You know I can tell when you lie to me.”

The younger executive flinched at that before looking down at his tea. “I’m sorry, I just,” he trailed off. “What I’m dealing with is rather childish…”

“Chuuya, it’s not childish if it’s bothering you this much,” the woman said, eyes softening. “What is it?”

The ginger stared at the older executive before letting out a sigh. “It’s dumb but… I’ve been having nightmares for the past few days…”

“What were these nightmares about?”

“Dying from _Corruption…_ ”

Kouyou frowned at this. Chuuya rarely ever talked about the times he’s had to use _Corruption,_ and the last time he used it was in the Shibusawa incident. And throughout all those moments, Dazai was always there to pull him out. To hear that Chuuya was having nightmares about _Corruption_ was rather concerning.

“And you’ve been having these nightmares for the past few days?”

“Yes…”

“Lad, why haven’t you spoken about this sooner?”

“I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. Tons of people get nightmares don’t they?”

Kouyou sighed. There was no sense in arguing with her pupil, so she’ll have to leave it alone for the time being. At least Chuuya was being open with her about it.

“I won’t press anymore,” she said before giving him a scolding look. “But only if you finish the tea I made.”

Chuuya chuckled before sipping his tea, causing her to smile.

* * *

When he returned home and went to bed, Chuuya started having the nightmare again. He tossed and turned in his bed, sweating a little as he started seeing images of himself in the state of _Corruption._ He screamed and cried to himself in his nightmare. Screamed the same things he has been for the past few days.

_“Stop!! Snap out of it!! Dazai!! You bastard!! Where are you!!?”_

But this time, there was something new. In the corner, he saw a cheshire grin that seemed to be amused by his desperation, and then he saw his body fade into nothing. He saw the teeth moving, the mouth not having a voice until he started to hear the faint sound of his name.

_“Chuuya… Chuuya…. Chuuya…”_

“CHUUYA!!”

Chuuya gasped as he woke up in a cold sweat, blue eyes blown wide in panic. He didn’t register that someone was in his room until he finally noticed hands on his shoulders. Not just hands. Bandaged hands. He looked up to see Dazai staring down at him in worry.

“Chuuya,” the brunette breathed out in relief. “Thank God you’re finally awake…”

“Wha… What are you doing here?” Chuuya demanded after getting back to his senses and glaring up at the other.

“Well, I originally was going to steal something of yours, but then I heard whimpering in your room,” Dazai said, being surprisingly honest. “Did you have a nightmare?”

Chuuya was surprised by this. Dazai had never been one to be considerate of others since he’s known him. Why was the bandage wasting machine so concerned.

“I’m fine, mackerel,” the ginger replied. “Now you can see yourself out the door.”

“Aw, but I can keep chibi company if he ever gets scared~”

The executive yelled as he tried to kick the bandaged man, who simply dodged it in one swift motion.

“Just leave, you asshole!!”

Dazai chuckled. “Alright, I know when I’m not needed. Call me if you have a nightmare again, and I’ll come to cuddle you, Chuu~ya~!”

“Just get the fuck out already!!” The ginger yelled as he threw one of his pillows at the unwanted intruder.

Dazai laughed before finally leaving Chuuya’s room. The ginger grumbled in irritation before laying down with a sigh. His mind drifted off to what happened in his nightmare. He dreamt of _Corruption_ killing him again, but why did that cheshire smile show up in the background all of a sudden? It had never shown up in his previous nightmares the last few days.

“Maybe I’m overthinking it,” Chuuya mumbled. “Well, I have that stupid meeting tomorrow. So I might as well get back to sleep…”

When he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep again, he didn’t have a nightmare this time, but a dreamless sleep.

Unbeknownst to him, Dazai was right outside his bedroom door with a frown. Truth be told, the bandaged hadn’t come to steal Chuuya’s stuff. He actually wanted to gather a bit of information concerning this new group of ability users that showed up in Yokohama not too long ago. Since Chuuya was an executive in the Port Mafia, Dazai figured he would have something.

But seeing his chibi tossing and turning in his sleep, and even whimpering in fear. He had to have been having a nightmare. For as long as he’s known Chuuya, the petite executive has never had nightmares before. Dazai couldn’t help but wonder if his chibi had been having nightmares recently.

Deciding to leave it alone for now, Dazai walked out to the front door and left Chuuya’s home.

* * *

It was the time of the meeting, and Chuuya and Kouyou followed Mori and Elise close behind as they headed to the meeting place. They soon came to a stop when they came across a thick fog around the port.

“Well, this is interesting,” Mori said with a calm smile. “Must be the work of an ability.”

Chuuya frowned as he examined the fog. “Looks pretty sketchy,” he mumbled.

“I must agree,” Kouyou said. “If they’re trying to hide, at least try not to make it so obvious.”

Everyone blinked when the fog began to vanish and standing before them was a man in a pale coat and a skull mask.

“Apologies,” the masked man said. “It was the best way to show you where we were. We had no intention of hiding.”

“You are the leader I presume?” the Port Mafia boss asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Indeed, I am,” the man responded. “I go by the codename: Pale. We don’t call each other by our real names in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It’s a habit I instilled in everyone so we don’t give our true identities away.”

“Ah, such wonderful information,” Mori said. “Ougai Mori, boss of Port Mafia. I believe you wanted to discuss something with us?”

“Yes. Please follow me.”

Chuuya and Kouyou looked at each other as Mori and Elise followed Pale into an abandoned warehouse before doing the same.

“To start, I do apologise for Red’s unorthodox method of gaining your attention,” Pale started. “She’s usually the most active member of the Four Horsemen, so the work falls on her shoulders most of the time.”

“I’m not. I’d do it again in a heartbeat~”

Everyone turned to the source of the voice and saw a woman in a red coat, leaning back in a chair with her feet kicked up on the table.

“Red, you said you would behave in this meeting,” Pale scolded lightly.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll zip it,” Red said lazily as her head was turned up to the ceiling.

“I must assume that this is the subordinate who stole the cargo?” Mori asked.

“Yes, this is Red,” the leader of the Four Horsemen answered. “Please do not mind her, she speaks more with actions than words.”

“You gonna talk about the arrangement or what?”

“Also impatient.”

Red scoffed at that before keeping quiet.

“Ah, as I expected,” the Port Mafia boss said. “You’ll give us our cargo back, but at a price.”

“Yes, please have a seat,” Pale said, gesturing to the couch on the side.

Mori and Elise went right to the couch before the little girl stopped when she saw a table of crayons.

“Oh, crayons!” Elise said in delight. “Can I draw?”

“Do as you wish,” Pale said. “You are a guest here, after all.”

The little girl immediately went over to the table so that she could draw to her heart's content. Mori sat down on the couch while Chuuya and Kouyou stood on either side of him. Pale brought a chair to face them before sitting down.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” Mori asked with a slight smile.

Both executives glanced around to find two others in black and white coats and masks sitting on the crates in the far back before turning their attention to Pale.

“Now, as promised, we will willingly return your cargo to you without so much as fight,” Pale started. “Nothing has been touched since Red first took it and will not be touched as long as I say.”

“And in return, all you lot want is a small area in Yokohama to do business in,” Mori speculated.

“Yes, that’s all we want,” the skulled masked man replied. “Complete control of a small area in the city without the interference of you and your men.”

The executives narrowed their eyes at this as the boss cleared his throat.

“Well, what benefit do we get from this arrangement? Your subordinate had the nerve to steal from us, and even though it wasn’t what you intended, it still happened regardless of whether you intended for it to happen or not.”

“Good going, Red,” the one in the black coat said.

“Shut up!” Red growled.

“However, since you have done nothing against Yokohama as a whole,” Mori continued, “I’m willing to overlook this offense, so long as you agree never to do business in Port Mafia territory.”

“Whatever terms you set, we’ll do it,” Pale said. “We’re nothing more than a small group of mercenaries looking to settle down to expand our business. Nothing more than that.”

“And just to be clear, Port Mafia still runs this city, and you will address to us whenever you like to expand your business outside our circle. Is that clear?”

“Crystal.”

“So do we have a deal?” Mori asked, reaching his hand out.

Pale reached out and took the other man’s hand in a form shake. “Deal.”

Mori smiled in satisfaction and retracted his hand. “Good,” he said. “Now, as for your territory. Just give us a few days to figure out which area would be good for your business.”

“Red will get to returning your cargo tomorrow,” Pale said. “She’s rather good at hiding things.”

"Was that a compliment or an insult?" Red grumbled, shifting her attention to the group in discussion.

Chuuya's breath hitched when he saw a cheshire smile on the red mask she was wearing. The same cheshire smile he saw in his nightmare. Kouyou looked at her pupil in concern when she heard his breath hitch, and Pale shifted his attention to the young ginger.

"Young man," he said to him. "May I ask for your name?"

Chuuya blinked in surprise at this as he shifted his gaze from the masked woman to her leader. ".... Chuuya."

"Come here, Chuuya, if you don't mind," Pale said.

The young executive looked toward his boss, and Mori have an encouraging smile.

"Go on, Chuuya-kun, I'm sure it's nothing," he said simply.

Chuuya hesitated before going over to the skull masked man and Pale gently took the ginger's hand. The room was filled with tense silence before Pale looked him in the eye.

_"Be careful. That future might come true."_

* * *

When Chuuya had gotten home, he went to bed with a rather unsettled expression. What did Pale mean by ‘that future might come true’? What future? The ginger didn’t have a clue why he was even freaking out about this. He just met the guy.

But the way the skull masked man had said those words sent chills down his spine.

And then there was that masked woman. Red was her name right? Or codename as Pale had explained himself. That mask of hers had the exact same smile in his nightmare. And it got him thinking. Was his nightmare predicting the future…?

“This is ridiculous,” Chuuya grumbled as he sat up in his bed. “You’re overreacting over nothing, Chuuya! Come on! You’re an executive for fuck’s sake!” He tossed the covers off and got out of bed. “I need a drink. Maybe that’ll calm me down.”

The executive walked out of his room and headed straight for the kitchen, where he pulled out a wine glass and then got out a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and then poured himself a glass. He leaned against the counter as he took a sip of his drink, savoring the taste. The ginger really wanted to believe that he was only overreacting, but what if all of that shit was real.

“Ugh! Stop thinking about it, damn you!” He grumbled before taking another sip. He glared down at the red liquid for a moment, and he must’ve stared for a little too long, because the next thing he knew the cheshire smile appeared in the red liquid and he gasped in fear before accidently dropping the glass.

Chuuya panted in shock as he stared at the shattered glass on the floor, a drop of sweat running down his temple. He breathed in and out to calm himself down before using his ability to pick up the glass and throw it away. He then grabbed some cleaning supplies from under the sink and began to clean up the wine so it didn’t stain the floor. After Chuuya finished cleaning up, he marched toward his room, gathered his pillow and blankets and dragged it all the way to the living room. Once he placed those on the couch, he went to the kitchen to grab the bottle of wine and went back to the living room.

He was going to have to drink from the bottle if he was seeing hallucinations of that grin from his nightmare. And to be honest, being drunk always helped him have a dreamless sleep.

* * *

That same night, Dazai walked towards the front door of Chuuya’s home to see if his chibi was there. Once he was standing at the door, the bandaged man took out a bobby pin and knelt down to pick the lock.

“Isn’t it terribly rude to invite yourself in unannounced?”

Dazai jumped and turned to see a man in a pale coat and a skull mask. How the hell did this guy managed to sneak up behind him?

“I’m sorry, but, who are you?” Dazai asked.

“I’m sure you’ve already figured it out, Osamu Dazai of the Armed Detective Agency,” Pale said. “Also known as the Demon Prodigy of the Port Mafia.”

Dazai’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know who I am?”

"You've built yourself quite the reputation over the years," the masked man responded. "And I must assume that you already know that my group stole from the Port Mafia but have already settled on an agreement, yes?"

The brunette blinked at this. This guy guessed that he already knew. Clever.

"I would only imagine that nothing gets by you," Pale said as if reading his mind. "Now, you should leave the lad to rest. He needs it."

Dazai gave a grin. "I don't believe I know what you're referring to," he said.

"Denying it gets you nowhere," Pale said before reaching his hand out and a thick fog appeared from his hand and slipped under the door. The fog that slipped inside and formed a hand so it could lock the door from the inside.

".... Look, I just wanted to make sure he's okay," the brunette said.

"You should learn to know when you're not needed, or wanted for that matter," Pale said bluntly. "Now leave. The boy needs rest."

Dazai narrowed his eyes. "I don't think it's a good idea to leave Chuuya when you'll still be here," he said.

"I'm not here to harm him, if that's what you're assuming."

"How can I not assume? Your crew did steal from the Port Mafia after all."

"And we're giving back what belongs to them. Now leave. Tell your president he won't need to worry about us."

Dazai hesitated. He didn't want to leave chibi alone with the masked man, but he knew Fukuzawa would want to hear that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse mean no harm.

"Try anything with him, and you'll be sorry," he said coldly.

"Noted," Pale said.

Dazai stared at him with a cold look before turning around and leaving. Pale watched to make sure the bandaged man was gone before turning to the door.

"Now let's see the boy's condition," he said to himself before a hissing noise was heard within the fog.

A spider like creature appeared from the fog and slipped under the door to crawl towards the sleeping executive. Through its eyes, Pale could see that Chuuya has passed out on the couch with the empty bottle of wine dangling from his hand.

"Be a dear and take the bottle from him," he ordered.

The creature hissed before crawling over and taking the bottle from Chuuya and placing it on the small coffee table.

"Come to me now. I've seen enough."

The creature hissed before returning back to the fog and the fog soon disappeared.

"I do feel sorry for you, young lad," Pale mumbled. "But the wine can never save you from your nightmares."

With that, he walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So can any of you guess the ability of Pale? If you can, make sure to comment your answer!


	8. Four Horsemen pt 2 - Black of Famine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _'When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not damage the oil and the wine."_
> 
> — Revelation 6:5–6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter isn't as impressive as I had hoped to be, but I hope you guys enjoy it
> 
> I don't own BSD or Dark Deception
> 
> Dark Deception belongs to Glowstick Entertainment and BSD belongs to it creator whose name I can never remember because my memory is absolute shit
> 
> Enjoy!

Chuuya groaned in his sleep before he reached up and rubbed his face. He opened up his blue eyes and slowly sat up from his spot on the couch, the blankets shifting along with the movement. He always did have the worst hangover after drinking directly from the whole bottle of wine. He blinked when he found the empty bottle sitting on the coffee table. Weird. He didn’t remember placing the bottle on the coffee table. Then again, he was drunk, so…

The ginger flinched when he heard a knock at the door and frowned. He looked at the nearest clock and saw it was still pretty early in the morning. Six am to be exact. After seeing the time, he groaned.

“Who the fuck is bothering me at this hour!?”

He threw the covers off of himself before getting up and going to his door and throwing it open.

“The fuck do you want!?”

The visitor flinched and Chuuya realized it was the same guy in a black coat he saw yesterday.

“Um… hi?” the masked man said awkwardly.

Chuuya narrowed his eyes. "Why are you here? No… how did know where I lived?”

“Well, Pale told me where you lived and told me to come see you so we can talk… Did I come at a bad time?”

“I’m dealing with a serious hangover right now, so yes.”

Awkward silence fell on them before the man in black spoke.

“Um, I’m Black,” he said. “You’re Chuuya, right?”

“Yes, now leave.”

“But I was told to get you.”

“For what?”

“Work.”

“I wasn’t told I would be working with anyone today, least of all some creep in a mask.”

Black felt an arrow pierce his back. “... Okay, that stung a little.”

“Don’t care,” Chuuya said before slamming the door in his face and going back to the couch and laying down. He used his ability to get painkillers and a glass of water. He ignored the continuous knocking on his door as he took the painkillers and drank the water before setting them both down on the coffee table.

He laid down on the couch, orange hair spread on the pillow his head laid on, and closed his eyes to get more rest. After a few moments, he realized that Black had said something about his leader knowing where he lived, and his eyes shot back open before he scrambled off the couch and rushed back to open the door.

“How the hell does that skull masked bastard know where I live!?!” he yelled.

“Woah!! Calm down!!” Black said, hands raised in the air in surrender. “I can’t tell you!! He’ll kick my ass if I do!!”

“Do I look like I fucking care!? Bastard should know that it looks suspicious if he knows where I live!!”

“If I tell you, will you stop yelling at me!?”

Both men stared at each other before the ginger finally calmed down and leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed as he glared at the other.

“Spill,” he demanded.

“Okay, he may or may not have paid your place a visit yesterday,” the black masked man answered truthfully. “Before you ask, no he didn’t tell me why he was here to begin with or how he knew your address. He’s really freaky like when he knows stuff like that.”

The ginger narrowed his eyes at him, checking for any signs of deceit. When he found none, he looked Black over. “Are you armed?” he asked.

“I have chains, but that’s it,” Black said. “I don’t use guns, that’s more Red’s thing and she's even got swords.”

“Why chains?”

“Have you ever heard of the four horsemen of the apocalypse?” That received a nod. “Well, it’s like this. The white horseman has a bow and arrow; the red horseman has a sword; the black horseman has scales; and then the pale horseman has a scythe. Get it?”

Chuuya hummed. This was an interesting piece of information. Although…

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked.

“Well, since we’re going to be business partners with the Port Mafia, I think it would be easy to be honest with each other,” the black masked man answered. “It’s as people say. Honesty is the best policy.”

The executive blinked at this. “.... You’re a weird guy.”

“I get that a lot.”

Silence fell on the two of them for a moment, but this time it wasn’t as awkward as before. After a while, Black finally spoke.

“Well, I’ll leave you to recover from your hangover,” he said. “Once you’re better, let’s have a tour of the city, yeah?”

Chuuya raised an eyebrow before sighing. “Sure. Whatever.” With that, he closed the door and went to gather up his blanket and pillow to take back to his room, hoping to sleep off the hangover.

Black stood at the door, feeling a little pleased with himself that he managed to gain at least a little bit of someone’s trust in the Port Mafia. Truth be told, he didn’t think Pale would come up with a solution to fix the mess that Red had made. But the leader of the Four Horsemen always had a knack for surprising him.

He perked up when he felt a presence behind before turning around, “Pale figured you would show up,” he said.

Dazai gave a smile. “Your leader must have a sixth sense if he knew I would come back here.”

“You have now idea,” the masked man said. “Why are you here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” the bandaged man said as his smile turned dangerous. “What makes you think I would allow anyone near Chuuya when he’s in such a delicate state?”

“Delicate? Are you talking about the nightmares he’s been having?”

The brunette raised an eyebrow. “So you know?”

“Pale has a sixth sense for these types of things,” Black responded. “Especially when they dream about…” He trailed off.

“What?” Dazai demanded.

“Nothing,” Black said quickly. “It’s not my place to tell.”

“Too late, you already said it,” the brunette said, hands in his pockets. He gripped the box cutter inside his left pocket. “Tell me now.”

“No.”

Dazai’s brown eyes narrowed. “Tell. Me. Now.”

“No,” Black said firmly. “I’m not giving away a friend’s secret.”

“Friend? You just barely met the chibi executive.”

“We can work on being friends along the way. We’ll be working together after all.”

Everything fell silent as a phone started ringing. Both men stared at each other before Black reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Hello?” he answered.

“William, don’t bother with him. Focus on Chuuya Nakahara.”

“But Pale--”

“None of that. The Armed Detective Agency won’t do anything so long as we don’t stick our noses where they don’t belong. Now, wait for Chuuya to give you the tour. Osamu Dazai will be sure to leave you alone.”

Black glanced at the smiling Dazai before sighing. “Understood.”

“Oh? Big boss not happy with you?” Dazai teased as Black hung up.

“You know, I can see why people don’t like you,” Black said bluntly.

Dazai faked a gasp. “I will have you know that I am a delight!”

“Sure,” the masked man said, rolling his eyes under his mask before turning and leaving. “Don’t bug him. He needs to rest.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about~”

Black simply went on his way instead of answering back. When the coast was clear, Dazai reached out to turn the doorknob. He flinched when something bit him by his cheek and slapped it to find a mosquito.

“Ugh… stupid bug…” The bandaged grumbled before blinking at the many flies that came at his face. “What the hell-- Gah!!” He yelled as he frantically waved at the bugs. “Why are all these bugs-- OH SHIT!!” He screamed as he fell over into a trashcan.

The flies then left to return to Black’s sleeves. “That’ll keep him occupied.”

* * *

Chuuya woke up in his room and looked at the clock. “Damn… ten thirty already… Must’ve been deadass tired… But at least I don’t have a hangover anymore.”

He sat up in his bed and stretched his muscles with a yawn. He wondered what he should do today, but then he remembered that he kind of agreed to give that masked freak a tour of Yokohama. Personally, he didn’t want to, but if he had to then so be it.

He gave a sigh. Maybe later he can talk to Ane-san once he was finished with the tour. With that, he got up out of bed and got dressed for the day.

Chuuya didn’t even know why he agreed to do this. These bastards stole from the Port Mafia. He had no reason to be friendly with them. But now that he thought about it.

_“Be careful. That future might come true.”_

Perhaps he can use this as a chance to ask Black what Pale had meant when he said those things. Those words and the hallucination of the cheshire grin had terrified him to the point of drinking a whole bottle of wine just so that he would get to sleep and not experience any type of dream.

Especially those nightmares.

As soon as he was done getting ready, Chuuya stepped out of his home and then locked it up tight before leaving. However, he stopped when he caught sight of Dazai in a trash can and covered his mouth to stifle his laughter.

"The hell happened to you, mackerel?" He snickered.

Dazai glared up at him. "I won't tell you of all people," he stated. "Now help me out of here, slug."

The ginger tapped his chin in thought. "Hmmmm…. Nah." He said before walking away.

"HEY!!!" the brunette screamed. "YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!!!"

"Sure I can," the executive said, waving his hand. "You're finally at home after all."

"CHUUYA!!!!"

Chuuya laughed as he just left Dazai there to be stuck inside the trash can. Ah, for once, it was nice to finally have a nice laugh if that bandage wasting machine was suffering.

He managed to spot Black from a distance and gave a slight wave. "Yo!"

The masked man perked up at the sight of the ginger. “Hey! You came!”

“Well, I did agree to the tour after all,” Chuuya said, rolling his eyes. “So which part of Yokohama did you wanna see first?”

“Ah, I’m not too picky,” Black replied. “I usually get excited about tons of new places we’ve moved to.”

“You mean… Yokohama isn’t the first place you’ve moved to?”

“Uh-huh.”

“... Where did you guys just come from?”

“Kyoto,” Black answered. “We’re mercenaries, so we do jobs for anyone who decides to hire us. We were pretty big in Kyoto, but then Pale wanted to expand our business, so we thought, why not Yokohama? Of course, he remembered that you guys practically run the whole city, so he wanted to ask for permission to come here.”

Chuuya hummed. “Pretty smart guy… Except for letting that bitch in the red coat to send us an invitation her own way.”

The masked man chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah that… Red is a bit of a loose canon, I’ll admit that…”

“She does shit like that often?”

“If she feels like it, sure. Don’t expect an apology from her. She’d do it again in a heartbeat, as she said so herself.”

“I hate her already.”

“Nobody got hurt at least right?”

Chuuya frowned as he thought about it. No, nobody got hurt, but still…Then he remembered why he agreed to give the tour.

“Hey, Black…”

Black looked at the ginger. “Yeah?”

“.... What did… What did your boss mean when he said the future might come true?”

Heavy silence fell on them, and the executive looked to see the masked man looking away. The silence was starting to make him worry, but Chuuya did his best not to let it show. People always said that he wore his heart on his sleeve, and since this was pretty damn important he needed to try to hide his emotions a little.

“I don’t know,” Black said honestly in a solemn tone. “And even if I did, I don’t think he would want me to tell anybody…”

That didn’t make him feel better in the slightest. “The hell am I supposed to do with that!?” he growled angrily.

“Look, all you can do is wait and see,” Black said.

“Wait and see? The way he said it to me obviously means that something bad is going to happen! What can I do to prevent it!?”

Black could see the desperation in the executive’s eyes, and he honestly felt bad for him. “I wish I could tell you what to do, truly I do,” he said. “But I can’t help you with something that Pale predicts might come true. I’m sorry…”

Chuuya stared at Black in disbelief before turning away with a scoff. “You know what, forget the fucking tour! You were useless!!”

“Hey, wait--” Black reached out to stop him, but it was too late. The ginger used gravity to run at the speed of light. This caused him to sigh.

“Damnit, William… Why can’t you keep your mouth shut?”

* * *

Chuuya didn’t know how long he had been running, but it must not have been long, considering that he made it to Ane-san’s place and it was still daylight out. He quickly knocked on the door and waited patiently. It was her day off today, so hopefully she wasn’t busy. His heart jumped in his throat when the door opened and the red haired woman gave him a look of confusion.

“Lad, what--”

“Can we talk? Please?"

Kouyou noted how her pupil’s eyes were filled with a slight bit of fear and desperation and stepped aside. “Come in, lad,” she said in a gentle tone. “I’ll make us some tea.”

Chuuya nodded and stepped inside, removing his shoes before he stepped onto the wooden floor and then removed his coat and hat and placing them on the coat rack. Ane-san had gotten it just for Chuuya’s occasional visits, and he was rather touched that he meant so much to her.

That was why he came to her.

He sat at the table as Kouyou made tea, a hand gripping his wrist tightly. His heartbeat was frantic as he waited as patiently as he could as Ane-san was finishing up on the tea. The woman noticed that her pupil was agitated and looked at him.

“Lad, what’s the matter?” she asked in concern. “You’re shaking like a leaf.”

Chuuya swallowed a bit of saliva. “Ane-san… I think…” He looked her in the eye, his own sapphires filled with fear.

_“I think something bad is going to happen…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The foreshadowing of the future!!!


	9. Four Horsemen pt 3 - White of Conquest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come." I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer."_
> 
> — Revelation 6:1–2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost there folks! Only one more horseman to go, which will bring us to the ultimate battle! 
> 
> Chapter 4 of Dark Deception still has not been released yet but have patience! It will be out soon and then this story will progress further!
> 
> Without further ado! 
> 
> Enjoy!

Kouyou stared at Chuuya in disbelief. He couldn’t be serious. He couldn’t possibly think that something bad was going to happen, right? But looking at his scared expression made her think otherwise.

“Lad, what do you mean something bad is going to happen?” she asked carefully. “You’re not making any sense.”

“Nothing that I’ve learned makes sense!” Chuuya hissed, running a hand through his orange hair.

It was clearly obvious that her pupil was frustrated about this, and she calmly sat down across from him. “Whatever it is that is troubling you, you can speak about it with me, lad,” she said. “I’m willing to listen.”

The young man looked at her, and when he saw the honesty in her eyes, he relaxed a little.

“Remember the nightmare I told you about?” Kouyou nodded in response to that. “I had it again the other night, only this time, something else showed up. I saw a Cheshire grin in the background, as if it was mocking me.”

The woman frowned at this. “So the woman’s mask…”

“It had the same cheshire grin as the one in my nightmare. That’s why I was so shocked…”

Kouyou thought about the skull masked leader of the Four Horsemen, and how he interacted with Chuuya that one time. “And the leader…”

“I think he knows about my nightmares somehow,” Chuuya said. “I tried to get that idiot, Black, to talk, but he was freaking useless. He wouldn’t tell me anything! Something about his leader ordering him not to.”

“As a subordinate, he has to follow his leader’s orders,” the woman said. “It’s no different than us following Mori’s orders about this agreement.”

Silence fell onto them before the younger executive buried his face into his hands.

“What am I going to do, Ane-san?” he asked. “Knowing so little about what could possibly happen and what might not happen… It’s all so… God, I don’t even know!”

Kouyou could understand his frustration. She had been a little suspicious of what Pale had meant when he said those words to Chuuya, and she was glad that he had come to her about this. Otherwise, she wouldn’t know what to do if he kept quiet about it.

“Lad, calm yourself,” she said calmly. “It isn’t good for an executive to get flustered like this.”

Chuuya took a deep breath before he eventually calmed himself down. “I’m sorry…”

“There’s no need for apologies, lad. You have nothing to be sorry about.”

Silence fell on them as Kouyou poured tea into their cups, and the younger executive took a gentle sip, humming in appreciation.

“I am sorry to say that I cannot help you with this knowledge, dear,” Kouyou said. “But I can assure you that you can come to me for anything.”

Chuuya smiled at that. “Thanks, Ane-san, that means a lot…”

The woman smiled back. “It’s no problem, lad…”

* * *

Chuuya ended up having that nightmare again. He was in the state of  _ Corruption,  _ and that cheshire grin appeared in the corner again. Only this time, the cheshire grin materialized into Red, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Even though he couldn’t see her face behind that mask, he could feel her mocking smile being directed towards him as she watched him waste away.

_ “I guess it must really suck to be a god’s vessel, huh?” _

Chuuya woke up with a gasp after that, beads of sweat dripping down his temple as he tried to catch his breath. He breathed out a sigh before running a hand through his hair. That woman… She was there this time, with that cheshire mask of hers. What could that possibly mean?

A knock was heard at the front door, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion on who it could be that’s coming to see him so late.

“If it’s Black or that shitty mackerel, I always have the option of ignoring them,” he mumbled to himself before getting out of bed to head to the front door.

Except, when he took a look through the peeping hole, he saw a figure clad in white with a white mask. He immediately recognized them as one of the Four Horsemen, but contemplated on whether or not he should answer them or not.

“I mean no ill intent, Mr. Nakahara,” they said on the other side.

Chuuya narrowed his eyes. “How can I believe that?” he demanded.

“You can’t, and I won’t convince you otherwise.”

When they put it that way… Chuuya hesitated a little before opening the door to glare at the newcomer. White was it? “So, you here to bug me on your bosses command?”

“Actually, Black sent me here to apologise for not being of any help to you,” White replied casually. “Though I’m not sure why he couldn’t just do it himself.”

The ginger scoffed at that information. So Black couldn’t do the apologizing himself, eh? What a prick. “Well, unless he grows some balls and apologises to me himself, he’s not forgiven.”

White chuckled at that. “You’re very straightforward,” they said. “I like that about you.”

The executive grinned a little at that. “Well, now that your task is done, what do you want?” he asked.

The horseman hummed in thought. “I don’t really have much to do at the moment,” they said. “But your boss did call mine and said he’s found a perfect spot for our business. He said you and the other executive would show us tomorrow. Best you get some rest.”

Chuuya hummed. Weird. Shouldn’t the boss have let everyone know by now? “Guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.

“You have a good night, Mr. Nakahara,” White said before turning and taking their leave.

The ginger watched them go before slowly closing the door.

* * *

The next day came as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Mori had managed to find an area in Yokohama for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to settle down in for their business. It was a small one, but still doable in Pale’s opinion.

“I do appreciate this, Boss Mori,” Pale said as he and his subordinates looked around. “This will be perfect for our business.”

The leader quickly noticed that Chuuya was keeping a bit of distance from Red, and she couldn’t resist poking fun.

“I don’t bite, handsome,” Red teased in a flirty tone to him.

Chuuya only glared at her in response.

“Stop it, Red,” White said. “Don’t start any trouble.”

“Ugh, you’re such a stiff, White,” the red masked woman scoffed.

“None of that, you two,” Pale scolded lightly, making his two subordinates fall silent.

Mori gave an amused smile. “Your subordinates seem to act like children most of the time,” he said.

“Yes, I often question their ages from time to time,” the skull masked man agreed.

“Hey!”

The ginger snickered a little while Kouyou simply hid her smile behind her kimono sleeve. But truth be told, she was really keeping an eye on Red, making sure that the woman kept her distance from Chuuya. If what the lad said was true, then the older executive needed to keep a close eye on the red horseman.

“I think we’ve seen enough of our new base,” Pale declared. “I’m sure you’re all very busy, so feel free to take your leave.”

“I am glad that this area is to your satisfaction,” the Port Mafia boss said happily. “Come, Chuuya-kun, Kouyou-kun. Let us take our leave.”

Both executives nodded before following their boss out. As they passed by Red, the ginger could’ve sworn he heard her whisper to him…

_ “Looking forward to seeing you again~” _

* * *

That night, Dazai visited Chuuya again. He knew the chibi wouldn’t appreciate this, but something was wrong, and he needed to find out what. If breaking into the ginger’s home was the only way to get some answers out of him so be it. Only problem is that Chuuya’s home is being guarded by White for some reason.

The brunette looked up to see White sitting on the railing, and they looked down at him.

“You should know when you’re not welcome here, Osamu Dazai,” White called, fiddling with the arrows in their quiver.

Dazai simply smiled up at them. “Oh, so the leader has sent one of his other horses to keep me away?” he said. “I’d say he’s in love with the chibi.”

“Like how you are?” White asked.

The brunette’s mouth twitched a little at that. “What kind of owner would I be if I didn’t properly look after my dog?”

“You’re not fooling anyone,” White said. “Now leave. Or I'll make you.”

Dazai gave a dark grin. “I’d really like to see you tr--”

“The hell?”

Both looked to see Chuuya standing at his doorway to see the commotion going on outside his home.

“What the fuck are you both doing here?” the ginger demanded.

“Evening, chibi!” Dazai greeted, his attitude doing a complete one eighty.

“Fuck off, mackerel!” Chuuya growled before glaring at the other intruder. “What’s with this shit?”

“Apologies,” White said. “Pale ordered me to keep a lookout for this waste of bandages.”

Chuuya raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“He knows that you need space. Especially with your current situation.”

Silence fell on them at that, as blue eyes were narrowed towards White before looking at the forgotten brunette. “Fuck off, shitty Dazai,” he said. “I’m not in the mood for your shit.”

“What? You’re not going to tell the masked person to leave you alone?” Dazai asked with a pout.

“They’re in business with the Port Mafia, so they can be here as long as they like,” Chuuya stated. “Now scram before I drive my knife through your skull.”

Dazai sighed. “Alright. I see that I’m not welcome here.”

“You’re never welcome here, and yet you invade my home anyway,” the ginger commented.

The brunette raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’m leaving,” he said before giving a teasing smirk. “I’ll see you later, chibikko~”

The executive sighed when the detective finally left. “What a pain…” He then looked at White. “You wanna come inside for a drink?”

“I wouldn’t want to intrude,” White said.

“Well, you did try to get that bandaged fuckass to leave, so the least I can do is thank you by offering you a glass of wine,” Chuuya said, hands on his hips as he regarded the white clad mercenary.

White gave it a thought before putting their arrows on their back. “A glass of wine does sound nice.”

* * *

Chuuya poured two glasses of wine for both himself and his new guest before setting the bottle down and taking both glasses to head back to the living room.

“I assume you know what I’m about to ask of you,” he said to White.

“I do,” White responded.

“Would it be asking too much if I ask you to tell me what’s going on?”

Silence fell on them after that, Chuuya waiting in anticipation for the answer and White contemplating the question.

“It’s nothing more than a rumor, but…. Pale is said to be able to tell when someone dies,” White answered.

“Is that an ability of his?” the ginger asked, sitting down beside his guest and placing the wine on the coffee table.

“Not exactly. Pale’s ability is  _ The Mist. _ ”

“Was that the mist we saw when we met up with you guys?”

“Yes. It’s not an ordinary mist, though. It can conjure up monstrous creatures at his command, depending on how thick the mist is.”

“Sounds sketchy.”

“If you put it that way, yes.”

“So how exactly can he tell if someone will die?”

“It’s not exactly easy to explain. It’s almost as if he can sense it just by looking at the person. Did you have a dream of seeing yourself die?”

Chuuya nodded.

“Then that only confirms it. Pale sensed that you dreamt of your death. How long have your dreams been occurring?”

“A few days…”

“Then that is your future. You remember how Pale said that your future might come true?”

Chuuya nodded again, growing uneasy.

“He means it. Death is inevitable for human beings, but it’s not predictable. Nobody knows how and when they will die. But there are a few rare cases where someone ends up dreaming of their death, even more rare that their death comes to fruition.”

Chuuya looked down. “So you’re saying I’m going to die at some point…?”

White nodded, deciding not to use their words to cause him anymore distress than he already feels. Silence fell on them after that, and it lasted for a good while. The executive was preoccupied with what he just learned, and it was hard to process that what his guest was telling him was the truth. White simply left him be so he could process what they just told him, figuring that he needed the silence to think properly. After a few more moments of silence, the ginger turned to his guest.

“Thank you for telling me this,” he said sincerely. “Even though you were going against orders…”

“It’s no problem, Nakahara,” White said. “You deserve to know the truth.” They looked at the clock on the side. “I should be going now--”

“Hold on. At least drink the wine I bothered to serve.”

White stared at Chuuya for a moment before nodding. “As the host wishes,” they said before taking their glass as the ginger took his.

“To the new partnership of our organizations,” Chuuya said, raising his glass.

White raised their own glass. “To the new partnership.”

With that, they clinked their glasses together.

* * *

The past couple of weeks were peaceful after that fiasco. Port Mafia did business in their territory and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse did business in their own territory. The mercenaries were rather content with the small area they were provided. They were not expecting a bigger area, considering that it was just the four of them, so Mori was satisfied that they were content with his choice. 

Chuuya would occasionally spend a bit of time with either White or Black if he ever happened to run into either of them. He did speak with Pale as well, but only to relay a message to him from Mori. Sometimes he would do it himself, other times Kouyou was with him. 

But Red? He avoided her like she was the plague. If he was dreaming of his future demise, then he needed to avoid her as much as possible. Whenever he caught so much as a glimpse of the red woman, he was quick to turn away. 

And it seemed that it annoyed her. 

Because when he stepped right inside Mori's office, the boss gave him a grim look. 

"Chuuya-kun, this is not easy to say, but… Half of your squad was murdered by Red…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can probably tell, I have not established the gender for White. So for the time being, White will be referred with "they" pronouns.
> 
> Next chapter will be the final part of the Four Horsemen arc, so be prepared! Until next time!


	10. Four Horsemen pt 4 - Red of War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come." And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from Earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him."_
> 
> — Revelation 6:3–4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is everyone. The moment you've all been waiting for.
> 
> You get see (and probably cry) how Chuuya died from _Corruption_ , and how Dazai wasn't able to save him. If you have tissues, keep them close to you because this is going to be sad.
> 
> Enjoy!

Chuuya gaped in horror at the sight of the body bags filled with half of his squad inside each and every one of them. He had hoped that the boss was joking when he said Red was the one who killed them, because they were in an agreement with the Port Mafia, but the more he looked at the body bags, the more his heart ached.

He knelt down beside one of the bags and was tempted to open one of them, but Kouyou touched his hand to stop him.

“It’s best that you don’t see them, lad,” she said softly.

Chuuya nodded to his mentor before looking up at Mori. “Tell me there is at least one survivor,” he said.

“There is,” Mori answered. “He’s in the infirmary at the moment. Red was apparently generous enough to leave one alive to send a message.”

“Can I see him?”

“You can. Please follow me.”

Like the loyal executive that he was, Chuuya followed the boss to the infirmary, Kouyou right behind them. Everyone that saw them quickly made way for them, having heard the news of what happened to Chuuya’s squad. In the mafia, news tended to spread fast, and when it came to things like this; though it was quite common for mafia executives to lose their men, Chuuya took things personally, as he deeply cared for each and everyone of his subordinates, whether they were under him or otherwise.

It wasn't long until they finally arrived and Chuuya immediately rushed to his subordinate's side, who groaned out in pain when he saw the executive that many in the squad admired. 

"Chuuya-san…" he croaked. 

"Shhhhh, don't strain your voice," the young executive said. 

"That woman… came out of nowhere…" the subordinate said. "Started slaughtering half of us… she stole the cargo…"

Chuuya grit his teeth in anger at that. 

"She… let me live… so I could…. Deliver this…"

Everyone watched as the injured man opened up his hand to find a piece of paper folded up into a square. Chuuya gently took the paper and unfolded it to see a message.

_If you’re reading this, that means you found my little messenger~ Right to the point, I took your cargo. You want it back? Send in your strongest fighter and come take it. I left the address of where I am currently hiding on the back of the paper_

_One more thing. My group isn’t involved in this. This is all me. So leave them alone._

_Red_

The air became tense as they looked at the message over and over before looking over to see the address of Red’s hiding place. Chuuya was trying very hard to contain his rage over the loss of half of his men, all because this bitch thought it would be funny to steal from the Port Mafia. _Again_.

“Boss…?”

“Say no more, Chuuya-kun,” Mori said. “Find her, and eliminate her. Then take the cargo back.”

Chuuya’s body became engulfed by the red aura of his ability as he crushed the paper. “Yes, sir.”

* * *

Something was up. When Dazai had gone to see Chuuya, the executive wasn’t at home. So he had to have gone on a mission. And that was also when he realized that his squad had been killed, and the brunette had a bad feeling that something was going to happen to Chuuya. So like the “good” ex-partner that he was, he followed him.

Chuuya walked through the woods to head to his destination, the light of the full moon being his only source of light to see where he was going. The ginger was filled to the brim with rage, not only because the Port Mafia cargo was stolen again, but also because the bitch had the absolute nerve to slaughter his men the way she had.

This wasn’t just a mission to get the cargo back. This was revenge.

Dazai watched the petite executive from a distance before getting close behind him and reaching out for his hat.

“Touch my hat, and you’ll be losing that hand of yours, mackerel,” Chuuya growled.

The brunette pouted at this before retracting his hand. “Chibi is no fun,” he said. “I see he still has his doggy sense of smell.”

“I’m not in the mood, bastard, so fuck off,” the ginger said dismissively as he contined walking forward.

Dazai frowned as he continued to follow Chuuya. “Doing this won’t bring them back--”

“Shut up! You wouldn’t know! Back then, you couldn’t give two shits about your subordinates! So don’t act like you can give any source of wisdom!”

Tense silence fell onto them at that, because they both knew what the executive said was the truth. Dazai could only watch Chuuya’s back as they headed to their destination.

“Why the hell are you even here anyway, mackerel?” the ginger demanded. “This doesn’t even involve you, or the agency for that matter.”

“I just thought I could give you a hand,” the brunette said, smirking lightly. “A big one at that~” He frowned when he didn’t even get a response from that, and he wasn’t too pleased that Chuuya chose to ignore him in favor of getting to his destination.

So what does the bandaged man do? He leans down and blows onto Chuuya’s neck, causing him to flinch.

"God, could you not breathe down my neck!?" He yelled as he rubbed his neck and glared at the other

"It's not my fault that you're such a chibiko that my breath can reach down your neck," Dazai said, and he had the audacity to lean down and blow on the back of Chuuya's neck again.

"Knock it off, damnit!!" The ginger yelled, rubbing the back of his neck with a blush.

Dazai only gave a smirk. "Aw, is chibi not used to this kind of attention?" He teased. "His cheeks are the color of cherries~ or perhaps strawberries~ Oh, maybe even red apples~!"

"GO TO HELL, YOU SHITTY MACKEREL!!!"

Dazai simply laughed, feeling rather pleased that he got the hat rack to focus on him for a moment. But it only lasted for a moment before Chuuya regained his focus on walking forward. The bandaged man frowned as he followed the executive.

It didn’t take long before the forest cleared up a little to reveal an abandoned safe house. Although, right at the moment, it wasn’t abandoned. Because Red was sitting on top of the roof, legs crossed and hands in her pockets.

She smiled under her mask as she saw Chuuya and Dazai approach.

“Look who finally showed up,” Red said. “I was starting to think you were getting cold feet.”

“When it comes to avenging my men, I don’t get cold feet,” Chuuya said with a glare. “You’ve got some nerve thinking that you can attack the Port Mafia like that. Not to mention stealing from us again.”

The masked woman simply shrugged. “It was pretty fun~”

“Why did you have to kill my men?” the ginger demanded. “You didn’t have to hurt anyone the last time you stole from us. So why did you kill them then…?”

Red stared at Chuuya for a while, Dazai looking between them every so often. She gave a soft hum.

“You speak so freely to Pale when giving a report,” she explained. “You talk to White and Black as if you were buddies. And yet you avoid me like I’m the plague…” She smirked underneath her mask. “How else am I supposed to get your attention?”

Tense silence fell on everyone as Chuuya glared heatedly at her. 

"You bitch…. You did all this just to get some attention?" He growled. "Now you just sealed your fucking fate!"

Red chuckled before jumping down from the roof. "Then go on," she said mockingly. "Show me what the Port Mafia's best martial artist is made of."

In a few seconds, Chuuya used his ability to zip towards Red with the intent to stab her with his knife. But it seemed she anticipated it, but she pulled out a sword and blocked the knife. She smirked under her mask.

“You’re pretty fast, handsome~” she said.

“That’s gravity for ya,” the ginger growled before pushing her back to the wall of the safe house. “Where’s the cargo?”

Red had given a grunt when she was pushed into the wall by the sheer force of gravity and chuckled a little after.

“Can’t you tell? It’s right inside this safe house. If you want it…”

“I’m killing you first before I get the cargo,” Chuuya growled angrily.

“Really, Chuuya?” Dazai sighed in slight disappointment. “I bet she’s a beauty underneath that mask. You know I want to commit double suicide with a beautiful woman!”

“A beautiful woman would have to be an idiot to want to commit double suicide with a bandaged reject,” Red stated bluntly.

An arrow pierced Dazai’s back at that. “Okay…,” he grunted. “That was cold…”

“Not her fault your dumbass can’t handle the truth,” Chuuya stated bluntly before glaring at the woman. “Don’t try to distract me with flattery, you crazy bitch. If it were anyone else, I’d swiftly kill them with a simple crushing weight of gravity.” He pressed his knife against her throat. “But you? You’re going to die the same way you killed my men.”

Red smiled under her mask. “Go on ahead.”

_“With pleasure.”_

With that, he swiftly slit her throat, blood spraying a little before allowing her body to fall onto the ground.

“Good riddance…”

Dazai frowned at this. “Odd. I figured she’d put up more of a fight…”

“Who cares? That’s what she fucking gets,” Chuuya said before kicking the door to the safe house open and walking inside.

“If you say so,” the bandaged man said as he followed.

They both looked around and the ginger cursed.

“Damnit! The cargo’s not here!” he growled.

“I had a feeling she was lying about that,” the brunette sighed. “You’re still as slow as ever, slug.”

Chuuya only scoffed before making his way to the door, only to stop when a bandaged hand grabbed his wrist.

“Wait…”

The ginger turned to the brunette. “What now?”

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to say, for a long time actually,” Dazai said, being surprisingly serious. Chuuya raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to go on with a wave of his hand. “Chuuya… I--”

Both jumped back when a bullet zipped between them and hit the wall. When they turned to the source, Red was standing at the doorway, seemingly in one piece.

“Oh, I’m sorry~” Red said in a mocking tone. “Did I interrupt something~?”

“You… what the fuck? How are you still alive!?” Chuuya said in shock.

“Please, it’ll take more than slitting my throat to kill me,” the masked woman scoffed. “I’m one of the few gifteds that are quite hard to kill.”

“An ability of not dying?” Dazai said in an almost pitiable tone. “How sad? That means we won’t be able to commit double suicide!”

“As if I’d want to commit double suicide with a bandaged reject,” Red stated bluntly.

Another arrow flew into Dazai’s back at that.

“Whatever,” Chuuya said as he glared at the masked woman. “Where’s the cargo?”

“I’ve hidden it,” she answered. “Somewhere no one will ever find it.” She pulled out her two katanas from her back. “And if you want it back that badly… Let’s put up an interesting show, shall we?”

Chuuya gripped his knife. “With pleasure.”

Both zipped towards each other and their blades clashed once, twice, three times. It seemed that Red had the perfect instincts for combat, because she was almost an even match for Chuuya. He swiftly swiped both of her swords from her hands and used gravity to push her to the ground.

“I’m surprised you can keep up,” the ginger said, slightly impressed.

“It pays to be the horseman of war,” she grunted as she fought the force of gravity.

"Don't bother. You can't fight gravity, no matter how hard you try."

Red smirked under her mask. "That's why I brought a friend~"

Both Dazai and Chuuya became confused before they felt tremors beneath their feet. Before they knew it, a giant claw broke out from beneath the ground and tried to grab the ginger, who swiftly dodged it. 

"The hell?" Chuuya mumbled as the earth started to open up.

"I don't know if either of you have heard, but the government just recently started experimenting to make monsters," Red said as she stood up after being released from gravity. "So, for this exact occasion, I went to one of their facilities and stole one."

"How convenient," Dazai said as a giant beast emerged from the soil. "Setting up a monster to do your dirty work."

"Trust me, I do shit on my own," the masked woman said. "But this is what my client recommended. Pretty dumb if you ask me, but that's what was asked." 

"Client?" the ginger mumbled as he floated in the air. "What do you mean client?"

"Shit," Red said nonchalantly. "Looks like I've said too much. Well, whatever. Sick 'em boy!"

With the snap of her fingers, the monstrous beast roared and went after Chuuya again, causing the executive to dodge every swipe of the monster’s claws. Dazai stood to the side in order to keep out of the line of fire, observing the monster with wide eyes. He didn’t think the government would go so far as to experiment on… something like that. He glanced over at Red, remembering that she mentioned something about a client. Did whoever hire her really recommend that thing?

Meanwhile, Chuuya did everything he had to in order to avoid this beast’s claws. They looked sharp to the point of actually slicing someone in half with just one swipe! He tried to find an opening in order to attack it, but it just wouldn’t give him the chance to fight.

“Ugh! I knew bringing this ugly-ass thing was a waste of time,” the masked woman scoffed. “My client had to have been an idiot. This thing is useless!”

“Oh, poor little girl,” the executive growled before using a piece of the earth to smack it in the monster’s face in order to blind it before he was by his former partner’s side. “Any suggestions?”

Dazai observed the beast with a frown. “Last time we dealt with something like this was with Lovecraft,” he said thoughtfully. “Normally, I would use _No Longer Human_ , but…”

“This thing ain’t human,” Chuuya mumbled begrudgingly.

“There is only one solution,” the brunette said seriously. “You can try to attack it the regular way all you want, but we both know it won’t get any end results.”

The petite executive looked at his partner. “ _Corruption_ …”

“It’s up to you,” the bandaged man said. “I might not make it in time, so I’m leaving it up to you.”

Chuuya stared at Dazai for a moment before turning to the beast. “When you say things like that, I don’t really have a choice,” he said before removing his coat and gloves. Red raised an eyebrow as the ginger stepped forward.

**“Oh grantors of dark disgrace…. You need not wake me again…”**

At this call, the familiar markings appeared onto his skin and his eyes became hollow as his body was engulfed by the red aura of his ability, his hat flying off because of the harsh wind that engulfed the area as he stomped on the earth, cracking it in the process. The beast roared before charging forward, but the ginger leaped up and threw a gravity sphere at the beast, causing it to lose its arm.

“What the hell!?” Red said in shock. “What is that!?”

Dazai took one of her guns and placed it at her head. “This is the true nature of Chuuya’s ability,” he said with a smug smirk. “In this state, he can control gravitons all around the area and eliminate anything in his path.”

Red observed the fight as the beast regenerated its arm, and yet Chuuya was mindlessly throwing gravity spheres over and over again.

“I didn’t think it’d be this powerful,” she mumbled as Dazai got closer behind her.

“Yep~” the bandaged man said. “Unfortunately, the drawback is that he can’t control himself in this state, and the longer he remains in this state, the more danger his life will be in.”

“You mean he’ll die?” Red asked in shock.

“Exactly,” Dazai said. “And since my gift grants me the ability to nullify other abilities by a single touch, I’m the only one who can pull him out of it. And it looks like he’s just about done.”

Chuuya created a giant gravity ball before throwing it down at the beast, destroying it entirely. Dazai smirked as he sensed the distress from the woman’s body language.

“See? You had no hope of beating Chuuya, much less killing him if that’s what you were trying to accomplish. Such a shame.”

She hung her head at this. “Yeah…” she said solemnly. “It is a shame… _That you would give such a helpful tip without thinking~_ ”

Dazai’s eyes widened at her change of tone before he yelled out as he felt a bullet pierce his left calf and he fell to his knees, dropping the gun in the process. How did he not notice that she had her gun in her hands!? Red laughed cruelly before kicking him to the ground and sitting on his back.

“You know, for a so called genius, you’re a real fucking dumbass!” she laughed. “Did it ever occur to you that my client didn’t want the stupid cargo?”

The brunette had gasped out when the woman sat on top of him to prevent him from moving, and his brown eyes widened in realization at what she said. “You mean….?”

“Yep~” she said smugly as she watched Chuuya laugh maniacally and throw gravity spheres around. “I wasn’t tasked with getting the cargo. I was tasked to nab Chuuya Nakahara, using any way I could. But after seeing him fight that monster I stole, I wasn’t sure if it would be done.” She looked down at him, a mocking smile hidden beneath her mask. “But thanks to your helpful little tip, it’s given me an idea. Why try and kill Chuuya Nakahara myself when his ability can do that for me?” She raised her sword and drew it into her captive’s shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain. “All I have to do is keep you at bay, and he’ll be as good as dead~”

Dazai slowly processed what she just told him. “This was a setup…”

“Ah, spot on,” Red complimented as Chuuya continued on with his rampage. “I had to find a way to get close to him, but he avoided me every step of the way no matter how hard I tried.”

“His men…”

“I could tell that he cared for them, so they were the perfect bait~”

The brunette glared up at her.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that. It’s not my fault you were stupid enough to give his weakness away in the first place.” She smiled beneath her mask. “Now that I think about it… You’re kinda killing him off yourself by not being there for him, aren’t you?”

Dazai’s breath hitched and he began to struggle underneath her hold, all the while watching helplessly as Chuuya continued his spree of destruction.

“You know, I always hear about how much he hates your guts nonstop. He hates you for a lot of things. And you know what…?”

She smirked cruelly at him. “You let him die~ Just another reason for him to hate you!”

That made the bandaged man snap out of it, and he growled as he reached for the blade of the sword in his shoulder and pulled it out swiftly, cutting his hand in the process but he just couldn’t seem to care about that. Yes it hurt, but he needed to get to his old partner. He swiftly knocked Red off as Chuuya leaped into the air and started throwing gravity spheres everywhere in the forest, and the brunette ran to him as fast his injured left leg would allow.

Red smirked and raised her gun to shoot, but then reconsidered after noticing how slow the bandaged man was. “Eh, let him try,” she said, putting her gun down and getting up and walking after them. “No reason to do any more.”

* * *

Kouyou ran forward through the forest with the Black Lizard squad just right behind her. She sensed a bad omen the moment Chuuya had taken off to face Red, and she ignored it for a while until she couldn’t anymore. Hirotsu and the rest of the Black Lizard volunteered to go with her to go after him.

“Kouyou-san,” Hirotsu called as they all came to a halt at the sight they were hoping not to see.

The woman’s eyes widened in shock as Chuuya was in his corrupted state, laughing like he was a mad man and throwing gravity spheres everywhere as if all that brought him joy was meaningless destruction. How long had he been in this state? Where on earth was Dazai!?

“Kouyou-san!”

She ignored the pleas as she ran forward to get to him. She begged to whatever deity existed that someone, anyone, would come and stop Chuuya from destroying himself before it was too late. She even looked around to see where Dazai was because it looked like it wouldn’t be long until the ginger was… Kouyou couldn’t bring herself to finish that thought.

But it seemed she didn’t have to.

Because the red aura that engulfed Chuuya’s body faded. He stayed up in the air for a moment, and before she knew, he was falling to ground and didn’t get up. Kouyou stared in disbelief, waiting for Chuuya to get up and say that he was alright. He didn’t. She rushed to his side and knelt down beside his body. Her cherry red eyes were wide with fear as he still didn’t move, his eyes closed and his face covered in his own blood. She reached out to check his pulse. When she didn’t feel a pulse, she desperately laid her head on his chest to hear his heartbeat.

 _She heard nothing._

And it broke her heart as tears started to form in her eyes.

_Chuuya was dead._

Kouyou held back a whimper as her tears fell. “Oh no… My poor boy…”

Dazai made it to Chuuya and Kouyou, only for his eyes to widen at the sight of the petite male’s corpse. _Corpse_. The brunette fell to his knees as he stared at Chuuya.

_He’d been too late._

At the sight of Dazai, Kouyou’s tears of anguish quickly changed to pure unadulterated anger.

“This is your fault…,” she whispered angrily.

The brunette only looked at her as his own tears formed in his eyes. _‘It’s my fault…’_ he ended up thinking to himself.

Both blinked when a faint red glow appeared beneath their feet before they were both pushed back away from Chuuya’s body. Hirotsu and Gin quickly caught Kouyou while Dazai ended up tumbling back on the dirt. Red, having caught, cursed as she hid in the bushes.

A man in a brown suit appeared from the light, and gently carried Chuuya’s body bridal style. His green eyes looked at Kouyou, and he gave a sad smile.

“I do apologise,” he said sincerely. “But I must borrow this young chap.”

Dazai and Kouyou rushed to get to the man, but he vanished just as quickly as he appeared. Both could only stand there and stare at the spot that Chuuya had just been, and now he was gone. Vanished without a trace. Gin and Tachihara slowly walked up to Kouyou and held her arms as she looked like she was about to collapse.

“Let’s go, Kouyou-san,” Tachihara said softly. “We better report to the boss.”

The woman said nothing as she was led away. She couldn’t care about the boss at the moment. All she cared about was that Chuuya was gone. Her pupil, her little brother was gone. Hirotsu looked to Dazai, who was on his knees and staring at the ground.

His gaze towards the bandaged man was a soft one. “You should go home, Dazai,” he said simply before following the others.

Dazai only stared at the ground as his tears fell from his face.

_“Chuuya… I’m sorry…”_

* * *

Ambrose opened the doors to the abandoned church as he gently carried Chuuya’s body to the altar. He had to admit, getting the boy was much easier than he anticipated, considering the people that were just surrounding his body. He knew it was a little cruel to take him while they were mourning, but he had to get him quick before Red did.

“I can sense that you're a strong soul, young lad,” Ambrose complimented as he sat on one of the pues and took out a handkerchief to wipe Chuuya’s face. “I have high hopes for you for what’s about to come.”

Once he was done cleaning him up, Ambrose placed the body down in order to lay the black coat down next to the altar. He then moved Chuuya’s body onto the coat and then put his black gloves onto his hands. “You think I would leave all of your belongings in that forest? I would never.” He folded Chuuya’s hands across his chest and then placed his hat onto them. “You wouldn’t be complete without all of these items. They belong to you after all.”

Ambrose stood up and smiled down at the body.

“Now, let’s see if you can manage to survive Purgatory.”

With that said, a large red symbol appeared beneath Chuuya’s body.

_Welcome to Purgatory, Chuuya Nakahara._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it! Which one of you cried? No one? Damn, you stone cold...
> 
> Okay, so, real quick. Due to the fourth chapter of the game Dark Deception still in development, and there not being a specific date of it's release, there probably isn't going to be a new chapter for this story for a while. Because it's like I said before, I added this to buy a bit of time and so that nobody would be too impatient. Because I'm getting pretty impatient with the lack of info on when the new Dark Deception will finally come out, because I really enjoy writing this story!
> 
> So yeah, until the game developers have made an official release date, there isn't going to be any new chapters for a while. Still, I wanna thank everyone for reading this story. To be very honest, I didn't think it would get this many kudos and bookmarks, but it still makes me happy~
> 
> So until next time my lovely readers!
> 
> Also, please stay safe during the coronavirus. I wish you all good health and safety to your families.

**Author's Note:**

> And there you have it! For once I have a fic whose first chapter is longer than expected!
> 
> Constructive criticism is welcome! As I have said before, I'm going down with dignity! I can take criticism! Especially the constructive ones!
> 
> Okay, I'm getting a little too much.
> 
> Feel free to give out your opinion. Comment. Wait those are the same... Kudo! Both would be great!


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